The Employment Brief

The Texas Supreme Court overturned a $362,000 disability discrimination judgment awarded to a captain for the City of Houston fire department who was removed from firefighting duties because his fear of entering burning buildings made him a danger to himself and others.  City of Houston v. Proler, No. 12-1006 (Tex. June 6, 2014). According to the court, no reasonable jury could have found that his fear of entering burning buildings constituted a...

In a recent opinion, the Seventh Circuit reminded employers and employees that, under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), qualified individuals with a disability are only entitled to a "reasonable" accommodation – they do not get to pick the accommodation. Bunn v. Khoury Enters., Inc., No. 13-2292 (7th Cir. May 28, 2014). Joshua Bunn was hired in September 2010 to work as an hourly employee at a franchised Dairy Queen store in Indiana....

  How much leave must an employer provide its employees who are on disability leave? Six-months? Nine-months? An indefinite amount? Employers often consider this question in the context of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. Last week, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals weighed in on the issue in Hwang v. Kansas State University, No. 13-3070 (10th Cir. May 29, 2014). In Hwang, the Court considered whether an...