Sometimes a case makes you wonder. Bruce Casanova, a former American Airlines baggage handler, told the jury he lied to American and feigned forgetfulness in an “Article 29F” investigation of his work related injury, and refused to provide a written statement concerning the circumstances of his injury as required by the collective bargaining agreement
Jackson Lewis P.C.
The Case of the Incontinent Court Reporter Redux: An ADA Loophole?
Recall the incontinent court reporter, hired as a control room specialist, a position compatible with her medical condition, but whose job changed when the chief judge decided to evenly distribute the workload, and required all court reporters to rotate through all courtrooms. In ADA parlance, the court changed the essential functions of the court…
EEOC Continues Its Attack on “Inflexible” Leave Policies
The EEOC’s challenge to “inflexible” leave policies continued this week, as the agency announced that it had sued Princeton HealthCare System for failing to reasonably accommodate employees who needed medical leave. According to the EEOC press release, Princeton HealthCare "fires employees" who are not qualified for FMLA leave and refuses to grant leave…
Top 20 ADA Cases: Large Jury Verdicts and Perhaps Some Litigaphobia
As part of its celebration of the 20th anniversary of the ADA, the EEOC issued a report entitled "Twenty Years of ADA Enforcement, Twenty Significant Cases," sort of the top twenty ADA cases brought by the agency. Much can be gleaned from this ten page document and we may revisit it a few times.…
Alleviating Commuting Woes as a Reasonable Accommodation under the ADA
Does an employer’s duty to reasonably accommodate an employee’s disability include the duty to alleviate commuting challenges caused by the disability? Two courts of appeals recently held that it does unless to do so would be an undue hardship; both decisions reversed summary judgment for the employer on the ADA claims.
In both cases…
CELEBRATING THE ADA’S 20TH ANNIVERSARY WITH CASEY MARTIN: THE LAW AND THE LINKS
Sitting in the Rose Garden on July 26, 1990, President G.W.Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act and, no doubt intending the historical analogy, declared it "the emancipation proclamation" for those with disabilities. To commemorate the ADA’s 20th Anniversary, I am going to re-read my favorite ADA case, the Supreme Court’s 2001 decision in PGA Tour…
ADA, FMLA Collide at Wisbey and Carmona
The ADA and FMLA collided in two cases recently and, whenever that occurs, accident reconstruction, so to speak, is in order. In Wisbey v. City of Lincoln, NE, emergency dispatcher Wisbey was granted intermittent FMLA leave for the "next 6 months or longer" because of depression and anxiety. Her FMLA paperwork prompted the…
Electronic Book Readers Must Meet ADA Accessibility Requirements, says DOJ
Emerging technology clashes with ADA accessibility requirements, as the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education warn colleges and university about requiring classroom use of electronic readers. In an open letter to college and university presidents, the federal departments "express[ed] concern" that some electronic book readers "lack an accessible text-to-speech function," making…
Reassignment as a Reasonable Accommodation under the ADA: It Depends on Your Definition of “Vacant”
‘reasonable accommodation’ ‘vacant’ ‘reassignment’…
Continue Reading Reassignment as a Reasonable Accommodation under the ADA: It Depends on Your Definition of “Vacant”
Burning Down the House: Considering the “Worst Case Scenario” In Determining Whether an Obese, Diabetic Employee is Qualified
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…