This Wednesday, December 3, 2014, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case of Young v. UPS, No. 12-1226, on appeal from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal. The Young case has received significant attention because it asks the Court to directly address the question of what, if any, accommodation is required for a pregnant worker with work limitations under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, incorporated into Title VII of the Civil Rights Act in 1978, where the employer provides work accommodations to non-pregnant employees with work limitations, such as those affected by on-the-job injuries or a disability as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Stressing that technology has made telecommuting easier, the Sixth Circuit yesterday revived the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's claims that Ford Motor Co. failed to accommodate a worker with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) by refusing her request to work from home most days.
Determining how to reasonably accommodate an employee with a disability can be difficult for employers. The Sixth Circuit’s decision in Kempter v. Michigan Bell Telephone Co., et al. affirms common-sense law – namely, that in reasonably accommodating a disabled employee, employers are not required to convert temporary light-duty work into a full-time position, reassign a disabled employee to a position he/she is not qualified for, or which would displace another employee’s rights, or create a new position.
As most employers are aware, the definition of what constitutes a “disability” for purposes of providing a reasonable workplace accommodation was broadened significantly with the enactment of the Americans with Disability Act Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA).
In addressing a disability discrimination claim under the ADA, the Eleventh Circuit ruled this past week that an indefinite leave of absence does not constitute a reasonable accommodation.
The recently released 2012 EEOC enforcement statistics indicated an overall decrease in charges and increase in damages paid by employers. Notably, for the second consecutive year, the EEOC reduced its pending inventory of private sector charges by 10% from fiscal year 2011, bringing inventory to 70,312. However, the EEOC obtained the largest amount of monetary recovery in 2012, totaling $365.4 million. Leading the states in originating charges was Texas at 9.0% of charges filed nationally, followed by Florida (8.0%) and California (7.4%).
It has been a rough year for employers so far after several adverse decisions from the Supreme Court. Not wanting to be left out, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued its final rule implementing regulations under the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) on March 25, 2011. The new regulations go into effect on May 24, 2011. There has been a lot of discussion online about the meaning of the regulations but they are not surprising and are for the most part consistent with the ADAAA itself. The essence is that employers can forget about challenging a plaintiff’s claim that he or she is disabled in all but the most extreme cases. As just about everyone previously concluded when the ADAAA became law, disability discrimination cases now turn on the reason for adverse employment action, the interactive process and/or the reasonableness of accommodations. If you are interested in details, some specifics points from the regulations follow.
Topics/Tags
Select- Labor & Employment Law
- Employment Law
- NLRB
- Coronavirus
- Labor Law
- Employment Litigation
- National Labor Relations Board
- Workplace Violence
- Department of Labor
- Arbitration
- Discrimination
- Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation
- Religion Discrimination
- IRS
- Disability Discrimination
- Litigation
- Employer Policies
- Americans with Disabilities Act
- Social Media
- Race Discrimination
- OSHA
- Retirement
- Sexual Orientation Discrimination
- Accommodation
- National Labor Relations Act
- ERISA
- Employer Handbook
- Wage & Hour
- Reasonable Accommodation
- EEOC
- ACA
- Affordable Car Act
- ADAAA
- Title VII
- Unions
- NLRA
- Employer Rules
- Sexual Harassment
- Federal Arbitration Act
- Technology
- Privacy
- 401(k)
- Transgender Issues
- FMLA
- Workplace Accommodations
- Disability
- Employment Settlement Agreements
- Sixth Circuit
- Fair Labor Standards Act
- Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
- Paycheck Protection Program
- Securities Law
- Preventive Care Benefits
- Health Savings Account
- SECURE Act
- US Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration
- Gender Identity Discrimination
- Posting Requirements
- Class Action Litigation
- Disability Law
- Benefits
- E-Discovery
- Evidence
- Family and Medical Leave Act
- Environmental Law
- Overtime Pay
- Privacy Laws
- Representative Election Regulations
- Department of Justice
- Healthcare Reform
- Older Workers' Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA)
- Telecommuting
- Affirmative Action
- Electronically Stored Information
- Equal Opportunity Clause
- Compensable Time
- Pregnancy Discrimination
- Security Screening
- Supreme Court
- E-Discovery Case Law
- Electronic Data Discovery
- ESI
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration
- American Medical Association
- Attendance Policy
- Return to Work
- Seniority Rights
- Unemployment Insurance Integrity Act
- Classification
- Confidentiality
- Disability Leave
- Equal Pay
- Fair Minimum Wage
- Federal Minimum Wage
- Genetic Information Discrimination
- Media Policy
- Misclassification
- National Origin Discrimination
- Retaliation
- Social Media Content
- State Minimum Wage
- Wage Increase
- Employment Incentives
- HIRE Act
- Social Security Tax
- Taxation
- Antitrust
Recent Posts
- New NLRB General Counsel Guidance Threatens Ability to Enforce Non-Compete Agreements
- The Practical Employment Law Podcast: Exploding 5 Employment Law Myths
- The Practical Employment Law Podcast: The Economics of Employment Law
- NLRB Issues Guidance on the Recent Mclauren Macomb Decision
- The Practical Employment Law Podcast: Thoughts On Workplace Violence
- The Practical Employment Law Podcast: Pay Transparency Laws and Remote Workers
- The Practical Employment Law Podcast: Labor & Employment Law Update Week of 3/6/23
- The Practical Employment Law Podcast: E.W.A. - Straight Outta Payroll
- The Practical Employment Law Podcast: Labor & Employment Law Update Week of 1/23/23
- The Practical Employment Law Podcast: The Obligatory New Year's Episode