In a significant case involving an employer’s obligation to transfer a disabled employee, who cannot perform the essential functions of the employee’s current position, to an open, vacant position, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an employer’s policy of hiring the most qualified candidate to fill vacant positions need not be ignored by
Reasonable Accommodation
Texas Businesses Likely to See More Employment Litigation in 2023 and Beyond if Employees Prevail in Pending Appeals
The results of three pending cases could greatly increase the amount of employment-related litigation Texas employers may face in 2023 and beyond. In Groff v. DeJoy, Postmaster General of the United States Postal Service, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering what the lengths to which an employer must go to accommodate an employee’s sincerely…
Texas Court Holds Request for Reasonable Accommodation is not Protected Activity
Texas 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.
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Continue Reading Texas Court Holds Request for Reasonable Accommodation is not Protected Activity
Fifth Circuit Holds That Telecommuting Not a Reasonable Accommodation Because Regular In-Office Work Was Essential Job Function of Litigation Attorney
In 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…
Court Rejects EEOC Argument that Employer Must Provide Disabled Employee Competition-Free Reassignment to Vacant Position as Reasonable Accommodation
Since 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…
EEOC Publishes Resource on Employer-Provided Leave and the Americans with Disabilities Act
This 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
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Employee Wins Reversal of Religious Discrimination Defeat at the Fifth Circuit
Last 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…
Breaking News: U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Important Case on Reasonable Accomodation for Pregnant Employees
The 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…
Court Finds, in Pre-ADAA Case, that Employee with Diabetes Not Disabled
In 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…
Does Title VII Protect Followers of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster?
Imagine 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…