News Notes: Employee Who Says He Can’t Work Can Still Sue For Disability Discrimination

An employee with HIV who wrote on a disability benefits application that he was unable to perform his job can still sue for discrimination, according to a new court ruling. For several years, Wells Fargo Bank had accommodated Andrew Bell by allowing him to telecommute one day a week, but the bank later decided Bell had to come into the office to work. Bell quit and sued for disability discrimination. Wells Fargo tried to have the case thrown out, pointing to a disability benefits application Bell completed after he left Wells Fargo in which he stated that he was unable to perform “his regular and customary work.” Despite this admission, the court ruled that the statement was not necessarily inconsistent with his lawsuit, because the application did not take into account the possibility that he could work if he received a reasonable accommodation.10 The ruling means that you could still be obligated to accommodate someone who—in another context—claims to be too disabled to work.