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Appellate courts in two neighboring states—Kentucky and West Virginia—have reached different conclusions on whether obesity is a disability.

In the Kentucky case, the plaintiff, who was approximately five feet four inches in height and weighed four hundred twenty-five pounds, claimed that her employer had unlawfully discriminated against her due to her morbid obesity in violation…

A federally subsidized housing complex designed by a deaf architect, with such features as video phones, lights that flash when the phone or doorbell rings, and wiring that sends announcements to residents’ hearing aids, is being accused by the federal government of discrimination against those who are not deaf, according to a New York Times…

A plaintiff with chemical or other sensitivities alleging disability discrimination is not unusual. The typical claim is that such a plaintiff, despite such sensitivities, is a qualified individual with a disability and the employer failed to accommodate those sensitivities.  The pro se plaintiff in an Eleventh Circuit case making that claim, a nurse in a…

The Connecticut law prohibiting discrimination against an individual who has a “physical disability” does not create a cause of action for discrimination by someone who does not have, but is perceived to have, a physical disability, according to the Connecticut Appellate Court. Desrosiers v. Diageo (Aug 14, 2012).  The Court noted that the state law…

 Under a new Connecticut law, a “qualifying patient” with a “debilitating medical condition” may obtain a supply of marijuana from a licensed dispensary to alleviate symptoms or effects of such symptoms.  The statute lists eleven “debilitating medical conditions” and gives the Department of Consumer Protection the ability to add others.

The act also gives guidance to address the…

We readily conceded that our recent post concerning the Hooters waitress placed on “weight probation” was “not your typical weight discrimination” case. Here is a more typical one, which also addresses whether an employer may consider the “worst case scenario,” so to speak, in determining whether an employee is a qualified individual with a…