Many employers have programs allowing employees to donate their own time off to another employee with serious medical or family issues. A dilemma often faced by employers with these policies is whether continued use of such donated time means the employee is not performing the essential function of attendance. On the one hand, the employee
qualified
Breaks and Flexible Hours Not a Reasonable ADA Accommodation for Frequently Absent Employee, Court Holds
By Katrin U. Schatz on
Employers can easily feel overwhelmed when it comes to enforcing employee attendance standards while providing reasonable accommodation to employees with chronic health conditions. Increasingly, however, court decisions such as Williams v. AT&T Mobility Services LLC are providing much-needed guidance regarding the scope of an employer’s duty to accommodate. The Williams case illustrates how carefully-designed policies, frequent communication, and a generous sprinkling of patience form key ingredients in the recipe for avoiding liability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Continue Reading Breaks and Flexible Hours Not a Reasonable ADA Accommodation for Frequently Absent Employee, Court Holds
The ADA Conundrum from Cleveland: Analyzing an Employee’s Inconsistent Statements About the Ability to Work
By Jackson Lewis P.C. on
Posted in ADA
In Cleveland v. Policy Management Systems Corp., the United States Supreme Court created a framework for analyzing how inconsistent statements on applications for disability benefits concerning a plaintiff’s ability to work affect an ADA claim.The analysis focuses on whether the plaintiff’s statements “genuinely conflicted with her ADA claim” and if so, whether the plaintiff…
Refusal to Try Respirator Takes the Air Out of ADA Accommodation Claim
By Jackson Lewis P.C. on
Posted in ADA
A lab worker with health problems as a result of her work with a solvent submitted the following request for an accommodation: “Avoid any type of work where she would have exposure to organic solvents. Transfer to another line of work. Avoidance of irritants.”
The employer denied the request but offered the plaintiff a full…
Mammography Tech with Epilepsy Unqualified under ADA Because Unconscious During Seizures
By Jackson Lewis P.C. on
Posted in ADA
A mammography tech with epilepsy is not a qualified individual with a disability under the ADA because she cannot perform the essential functions of her job "during the indefinite periods in which she was incapacitated," according to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Olsen v. Capital Region Medical Center (8th Cir. May 7, 2013). We…
Mammography Tech with Epilepsy Not Qualified under ADA and a Direct Threat of Harm
By Jackson Lewis P.C. on
Posted in ADA
An ADAAA “rule of construction” is that an episodic impairment is a disability if it would substantially limit a major life activity when active. A Missouri federal district court has held that whether an employee with an episodic impairment is a qualified individual with a disability is also determined when the impairment is active. The court…
Rotating Assignments as an Essential Job Function under the ADA: The Cases of the Acrophobic Bridge Worker and Incontinent Court Reporter
By Jackson Lewis P.C. on
Posted in ADA
Recall the incontinent court reporter. She had a steady assignment compatible with her medical condition until the chief judge required court reporters to rotate through all courtrooms. In the lawsuit challenging the court reporter’s termination, the court held that rotating was an essential function of the court reporter’s job and because she could not do…