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An automatic termination policy for employees taking more than 12 months of consecutive leave limits the ability of qualified individuals with a disability to return to work and may act as a “qualification standard” that violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, a federal district court has ruled. The ruling by the U.S. District Court for […]
An employer was not required to provide a full-time assistant to a worker with disabilities as an ADA accommodation, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has reaffirmed in Williams v. Revco Discount Drug Centers, Inc., d.b.a. CVS Pharmacy, Inc., No. 13-11673 (11th Cir. Jan. 14, 2014). Weldon Williams, a CVS pharmacist, filed suit against […]
By Paul Hamburger, Esq. A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision held that a plan’s contractual limitations provision is enforceable. It just has to be of reasonable length and not conflict with a “controlling” statute. The case is Heimeshoff v. Hartford Life & Accident Insurance Co. et al., No. 12-729 (S. Ct. Dec. 16, 2013). A number of […]
The U.S. Department of Labor has cited Houston Ear, Nose & Throat Clinic, LLP, for multiple violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act, and has ordered the clinic to pay $17,390 in back wages and other expenses. A DOL investigation found that when an eligible HENTC employee returned from FMLA leave, the company placed […]
by Mark I. Schickman True or false: You cannot ask a job applicant if she has a disability and consider her answer during the hiring process. I would have said true―you can’t inquire about a disability. Rather, the question for every job applicant is the same: Can you perform the job’s essential tasks with or […]
A nurse’s inability to perform essential job functions, either with or without reasonable accommodations, prevented her disability discrimination claim from advancing to a jury trial and warranted summary judgment by the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota in Attiogbe-Tay v. SE Rolling Hills LLC, No. 12-1109 (D. Minn. Nov. 7, 2013). Comfort Attiogbe-Tay, […]
by Julia M. Hodges Obesity is a disease, according to the American Medical Association (AMA). The AMA’s recent declaration has a multitude of implications for employers, including the potential for increased disability-related litigation. Whether courts will decide to consider obesity a disability under the law remains to be seen, but employers everywhere should beware. Obesity […]
While the ADA Amendments Act made it easier for employees to show that they have a disability, it did not eliminate the requirement, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in Neely v. PSEG Texas, No. 12-51074 (5th Cir. Nov. 6, 2013). Facts of the Case Jeffrey Neely worked as a control-room operator […]
A university’s likening of a disabled professor to a baseball player with a career-ending injury did not persuade a judge to dismiss the professor’s disability discrimination allegations. On the contrary, it showed that the employer may have fired the professor because of his disability, a federal judge said in Matland v. Loyola University of Chicago, No. […]
Retailer Toys “R” Us will pay $35,000 to settle allegations that it required a deaf applicant to provide her own interpreter for a job interview according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEOC filed suit earlier this year on behalf of Shakirra Thomas, alleging multiple Americans with Disabilities Act violations. According to the commission, Thomas […]