Disability & Leave Archives - Page 10 of 15

Customer Rep With Social Anxiety Can Proceed to Trial on Disability Claims

Kollman & Saucier

03/18/2015

Disability & Leave, Employment Discrimination

Can an employer lawfully fire a customer service employee whose social anxiety precludes her from interacting with customers? Not before exploring whether it can offer the employee a reasonable accommodation to perform her job duties, explained the Fourth Circuit in last week’s decision: Jacobs v. N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts, No. 13-2212 (4th Cir. Mar. 12, 2015). In this case, Christina Jacobs, who suffered from social anxiety...

Kollman & Saucier

02/20/2015

Disability & Leave, Employment Discrimination

The Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), requires employers to provide a reasonable accommodation to an employee who is a qualified individual with a disability. Employers are not required to provide unreasonable accommodations, such as those that do not enable an employee to perform the essential functions of a job or require the employer to create a new position. The Sixth Circuit recently reiterated this well-established rule in a case...

Clifford Geiger

01/30/2015

Disability & Leave, FMLA

Employers must be careful about treating employees as if the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) applies if, in fact, it does not apply. On January 26, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that Terry Tilley, an employee of the Kalamazoo County Road Commission (the “Commission”), could proceed with his FMLA claims even though he did not meet the FMLA’s definition of an “eligible employee.” Tilley v. Kalamazoo Cnty....

Clifford Geiger

01/29/2015

Disability & Leave

On January 23, 2015, a federal jury New York awarded a former Rite Aid pharmacist Christopher Stevens $2.6 million in damages on a claim he brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the New York State Human Rights Law. Stevens has a fear of needles, which is otherwise known as trypanophobia. Stevens alleged that when receiving and witnessing injections, and observing surgical procedures involving the use of needles, he exhibited...

Kollman & Saucier

01/23/2015

Disability & Leave

Does an employer violate the ADA by firing an employee three weeks after the employee informs security that he is “unstable” and having homicidal thoughts? However unlikely a “yes” answer to that question may seem, a judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania concluded that it was possible in Walton v. Spherion Staffing LLC, No. 13-6896 (E.D. Pa. Jan. 13, 2015). Both the ADA and state disability discrimination laws permit employers to...

Kollman & Saucier

01/15/2015

Disability & Leave

Two years ago, my twins were born ten weeks premature in a foreign country. Five months in the NICU followed by a terminal illness diagnosis for my son, I was left with no choice but to leave my job. I was fortunate. Not only did I receive support as I navigated those initial months of uncertainty, when circumstances changed and I was able to come back to work, I was invited to return to my former position. For many American workers, this would not...

Kollman & Saucier

01/09/2015

Disability & Leave, Reasonable Accommodations/Undue Burden

In a 2-1 decision, the First Circuit Court of Appeals held that an employee who prematurely ended the interactive process when she quit could not maintain her ADA failure to accommodate claim against her former employer. In EEOC v. Kohl's Dep't Stores, Inc., No. 14-1268 (1st Cir. Dec. 19, 2014), Pamela Manning, a sales employee with diabetes, had requested a steady and predictable work schedule from the department store, where she worked from 2006...

Kollman & Saucier

12/04/2014

Disability & Leave, Employment Discrimination

Sometimes I wonder why a lawyer decides to take a case. Other times I wonder why a lawyer decides to appeal a case he never should have taken. And then there are times where I ask myself both those questions in the same case. This week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decided a disability discrimination claim that falls squarely within the latter category. Curley v. City of N. Las Vegas, No. 12-16228 (12/2/14). The case...

Kollman & Saucier

12/02/2014

Disability & Leave, Employment Discrimination

Most employers include written workplace harassment policies in handbooks and other employment documents. While many such policies state that the employer will comply with its obligations under federal and local law, some go farther. Such was the case at Costco, where an "Employee Agreement" signed by all employees stated that "harassment" has a broader meaning than "as defined by law." While such "extra-broad" policies may be a well intentioned...

Darrell VanDeusen

09/29/2014

Disability & Leave, FMLA, Retaliation

Lest any employer need reminding that workplace disability issues (and the ADA/FMLA interplay) are nearly always tricky, a recent decision by Judge Russell proves the point well. In Williams v. Balt. City Cmty. College, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 133144 (D. Md. Sept. 23, 2014), the court denied the College’s motion for summary judgment on the plaintiff’s “regarded as” disabled and retaliation claims, while granting the motion on plaintiff’s...

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Customer Rep With Social Anxiety Can Proceed to Trial on Disability Claims

No ADA Claim For Teacher With Fear Of Young Children

Check Your FMLA Policy

Fear of Needles Leads to Jury Verdict for Pharmacist

Court Holds Employer Who Fired Employee For Making Death Threats May Have Violated ADA

President Obama Proposes Mandatory Paid SIck Leave Law

Employee Who Quit, And Ended Accommodation Talks, Has No ADA Claim

Breaking News: Threatening to Shoot Supervisor's Children is Grounds for Discharge

Costco's Harassment Policy May Create Contractual Rights

College Employee’s ADA and Retaliation Claims Get Past Summary Judgment

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Category: Disability & Leave

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