The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against “qualified individuals with disabilities.” A qualified individual can perform the essential functions of their job with or without accommodation. While not the be-all-and-end-all, an employer’s business judgment about what job functions are essential carries substantial weight under the ADA. Still, courts often…
It may be as easy as listing the essential functions of the job. I’ll give you an example. A national furniture retailer hired a Warehouse Associate to unload and receive inbound furniture orders. One would assume that the job requires moving heavy objects often. But you know what you get…
Something caught my eye yesterday as I was perusing the EEOC newsroom. The federal watchdog recently announced that it had filed a lawsuit against an employer for something called Americans with Disabilities Act interference. What exactly is ADA interference? The ADA prohibits an employer from coercing, intimidating, threatening, or interfering…
About two weeks ago, I spotlighted an EEOC lawsuit where the agency claimed an employer fired a woman four days after she experienced a stillbirth and one day after submitting a confirming letter from her doctor, which also recommended six weeks to recuperate physically and grieve. The Pregnant Workers Fairness…
Yesterday, the EEOC announced that it had sued an employer for allegedly denying a new hire request to leave training early for an urgent medical evaluation related to her pregnancy and rescinded her job offer. These are just allegations. However, according to the EEOC complaint, the federal discrimination watchdog appears to…
Today’s lesson is about the interplay between the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires employers to accommodate known disabilities absent undue hardship, and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which took effect last year and also requires an employer to accommodate known limitations related to, affected by, or arising out of…
Last week, we discussed an FMLA policy that your business needs to rip from its employee handbook and burn with fire. This week, we revisit an Americans Disabilities Act policy that should end up on the paper shredder: the 100% healed policy. If your business has a policy that requires…
Folks, I’ve lost track of the number of disability accommodation requests on which I’ve counseled human resources concerning employee requests to work full-time from home. So, when I came across a recent decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit involving a failure-to-accommodate claim…
Employers that maintain a policy of treating any employee unable to return to work following the expiration of FMLA leave as having voluntarily resigned are begging for trouble. But don’t just take my word for it. According to a recent press release from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the…
Let me set the scene for you. A teacher who had just taken leave under the Family Medical Leave Act during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to undergo heart and kidney transplant surgeries learns that the school where he teaches is requiring in-school teaching. Because he is immunocompromised, his…