Category: Disability & Leave

The essential functions of a job are those duties that an employee must be able to perform, with or without reasonable accommodation.   The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) advises that employers should consider the following factors to determine whether a function is essential: whether the position exists to perform the function; the number of other employees available to perform the function or among whom the performance of the...

Unlike cases of discrimination based on an employee’s own protected status, there seem to be far fewer claims of discrimination based on an employee’s relationship with a protected individual.  But this did not stop a former county courthouse employee from filing a lawsuit last December claiming that her termination from the Marion Superior Court in Indianapolis violated the association provision of the ADA.  Amber Bridges v. City of...

Handling employee requests to telework can be tricky, especially when the request is accompanied by a doctor’s note recommending the employee work at home all or most of the time. But just providing a doctor’s note does not entitle an employee to work at home.  An employer needs enough information to understand whether teleworking is a reasonable accommodation, and this means both the employer and employee must engage in the interactive...

The Eleventh Circuit held this past week that an employee couldn’t show disability discrimination when Chipotle fired her for violating its zero-tolerance inebriation policy, despite evidence that the employee’s conduct was a result of prescription medication taken for a disability.  Caporicci v. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., No. 16-13494 (11th Cir. 4/5/18). In this case, Plaintiff Caporicci was hired by Chipotle in July 2012.  After a year of...

Ketryn Cornell is an obese woman who was fired from the Berkley Tennis Club (the “Club”) after working there for fifteen years.  In May 2012, when Rigoberto Headley became the Club’s general manager, Cornell was five feet, five inches tall and weighed over 350 pounds.  Headley told Cornell that he wanted to change the Club’s image, and that staff members would be required to wear uniforms.  Cornell mentioned to Headley that finding a...