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. Continue reading
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 what happens when that step never happens. Continue reading
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 a blanket medical policy that unlawfully screened out an employee instead of evaluating his actual abilities. The jury issued an advisory award that included $25 million in punitive damages, and the court declined to disturb the verdict.
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. Continue reading
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. Continue reading
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. Continue reading
A single disclosure from a job applicant about her methadone prescription allegedly turned a routine interview into an ADA problem the EEOC now wants a court to resolve. Continue reading
How can you tell if your business is big enough to trigger federal or state employment laws? A recent Ninth Circuit case illustrates just how complicated that question can get. Two columns in a payroll spreadsheet generated two different employee counts, creating a triable issue about legal coverage. Continue reading
Supervisors sometimes say things they should never say. When that happens, employers usually brace for impact. But this case shows how strong documentation and independent decision-making can prevent one person’s bad behavior from controlling the outcome. Continue reading
Led Zeppelin was decades ahead of the ADA, but “good times, bad times” captures exactly how episodic disabilities can look in the workplace. Some employees have great days. Others have rough days. Most have both. And under the ADA, those fluctuating limitations still count. A recent Sixth Circuit decision shows why employers cannot ignore an employee’s bad days just because the good ones look fine. Continue reading
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