Hiring can feel like a checklist: background check, drug test, start date. But when an applicant raises a disability-related issue, those boxes stop being routine, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) starts asking questions. TL;DR: An applicant disclosed prescription medications that could affect a required drug test and…
Deciding too early that accommodation is impossible can shape everything that follows. This case shows why courts often let juries sort it out. In a recent ADA decision from the Northern District of Illinois, an employer decided an injured employee could not return as a bus operator under her medical…
A single recruiting phone call. No application. No interview. And yet, enough evidence for a federal judge to let an ADA hiring case move forward. TL;DR: A federal court in North Carolina refused to throw out an ADA hiring case brought by the EEOC after a recruiter allegedly shut down…
When an employee’s health takes a turn, the instinct is to be flexible. The legal risk is assuming flexibility means you cannot enforce expectations. TL;DR: The Eleventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment for a county employer that ended a probationary employee’s employment after documenting performance problems, even though the employee…
Employers often worry that a good-faith effort to keep an injured employee working will later be used against them as proof they “could have accommodated” the employee indefinitely. A recent Sixth Circuit decision draws a clear line between temporary flexibility and permanent obligation. TL;DR: The Sixth Circuit affirmed summary judgment…
Employees do not need perfect words or legal buzz phrases to trigger ADA protections. But they do need to communicate clearly enough to let an employer know they are asking for a change at work because of a medical condition. A recent federal court decision out of Ohio shows…
Safety policies should protect workplaces, not produce eight-figure ADA exposure. This case shows how a rigid medical rule, applied without individualized assessment, can turn a routine injury into a litigation disaster. TL;DR: A jury found that an employer violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and Oregon disability law by enforcing…
This case is a reminder that the ADA interactive process is about engagement, not just documentation. When an employer waits too long, courts start asking why. That question sat at the center of this dispute and ultimately kept the case alive. TL;DR: An employer could not defeat an ADA reassignment…
In an ADA retaliation case, a positive marijuana test looked like a clean exit. It wasn’t. What tripped up the employer wasn’t the test result itself, but how the termination decision unfolded around it – including uneven discipline, disputed facts, and timing tied to disability-related absences. TL;DR: A federal court…
Failure-to-accommodate claims usually turn on what an employer didn’t do. Here, the more interesting question was whether there was any ADA duty to begin with. TL;DR: A request for an accommodation does not, by itself, establish that an employee is disabled under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Employers…