By Russell Cawyer on Posted in Case Summaries,Disability,Reasonable Accommodation,RetaliationTexas courts routinely look to and take guidance from federal law when evaluating claims under the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act. The TCHRA is the Texas state law that prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of disability (and other status) and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities. In a… Continue Reading
By Hannah Parks and Russell Cawyer on Posted in Case Summaries,Disability,Reasonable AccommodationIn Credeur v. State of Louisiana, an attorney working as a litigator with the attorney general’s office experienced health issues related to a kidney transplant. The Office of the Attorney General allowed Credeur to work from home temporarily while she was recovering from her transplant surgery. After several months of telecommuting, the Office of the… Continue Reading
By Russell Cawyer on Posted in UncategorizedSince Congress amended the Americans with Disabilities Act revising the definition of “disability” and greatly expanding the number of individuals who are “disabled” and therefore entitled to reasonable accommodation, employers spend large amounts of time engaging in the interactive process to determine whether there are reasonable accommodations that will enable otherwise qualified individuals to perform the essential functions of the job.… Continue Reading
By Russell Cawyer on Posted in Disability,Leave of Absence,News & CommentaryThis week the EEOC published a resource document intended to provide guidance on providing disabled employees with leave of absence as a reasonable accommodation. According to the Commission, [It] continues to receive charges indicating that some employers may be unaware of Commission positions about leave and the ADA. For example, some employers may not know… Continue Reading
By Russell Cawyer on Posted in Case Summaries,Reasonable Accommodation,ReligionLast week I wrote about a religious discrimination case where an employer snatched victory from the jaws of defeat at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. This week, we have a Fifth Circuit opinion where the court took away an employer’s victory in another religious discrimination case and sent the case back to the trial court… Continue Reading
By Russell Cawyer on Posted in News & Commentary,Reasonable AccommodationThe U.S. Supreme Court just concluded its 2013-14 term and is already creating a buzz over the cases it will hear when it convenes again this October. Today, the Court agreed to hear a case involving whether and to what extent pregnant employees are entitled to reasonable accommodations for conditions related to their pregnancy. The case… Continue Reading
By Russell Cawyer on Posted in Reasonable AccommodationIn a recent pre-ADAA case, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a former UPS employee’s limitations caused by Type II diabetes were not disabling and that UPS did not fail to provide reasonable accommodation to a known disability. Despite the fact that this case was based on pre-ADAA law, there are still some useful… Continue Reading
By Russell Cawyer on Posted in Human Resources,News & Commentary,Reasonable Accommodation,ReligionImagine this, its Friday and you are sitting in your office as Director of Verizon’s newly created Office of Reasonable Accommodation. An employee, I’ll call him Joe, walks into your office. Joe tells you he’s recently converted to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (i.e., he is now a Pastafarian); that Friday’s are his religion’s holiday;… Continue Reading
By Russell Cawyer on Posted in Disability,Discrimination,Human Resources,Reasonable AccommodationThere’s an old saying in rural America that "pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered." We used the phrase to describe someone who, instead of being satisfied with what he has, gets greedy. In the litigation context it can be used to describe a party that takes overly aggressive, unreasonable and untenable positions. My fellow bloggers, Work Blawg… Continue Reading
By Russell Cawyer on Posted in Disability,Leave of Absence,Reasonable AccommodationThis week the EEOC held a hearing on whether new or updated regulations and enforcement guidance was needed with respect to providing leave of absence as a reasonable accommodation for disabled employees. The EEOC has recently been very aggressive in bringing suit against employers that use maximum leave policies or "inflexible" policies that provide no exception for reasonable accommodation. For… Continue Reading
By Russell Cawyer on Posted in Disability,Discrimination,Reasonable AccommodationA federal appellate court with jurisdiction over Texas held that chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) may qualify as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. According to the Centers for Disease Control, CFS is characterized by symptoms including weakness, muscle pain, impaired memory and/or mental concentration, insomnia, and post-exertional fatigue lasting more than 24 hours. There is no known diagnostic… Continue Reading
