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Do Punitive Measures Taken Against Unvaccinated Employees Raise Legal Issues?

In recent months, we have reported extensively on the various carrot-and-stick approaches taken by employers to try to incentivize employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine. In recent weeks, we have seen employers frustrated over...more

New Federal Guidance Classifies Long-Term COVID-19 Effects as Potential Disabilities

July 26 was the 31st anniversary of the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act. In an announcement associated with that anniversary, President Joe Biden’s administration indicated that long-term symptoms associated...more

Fourth Circuit Says Employer Not Required to Create Shared Job as ADA Accommodation

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers are required to consider reassignment to an existing vacant position as a last ditch form of reasonable accommodation for an employee unable to return to their previous...more

EEOC Updates Advice to Employers on COVID-19 Vaccinations

On May 28, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission updated its COVID-19 “Technical Assistance Questions and Answers” for employers to provide additional guidance on vaccination policies. While the update does not...more

Fourth Circuit Says Transferring an Employee Is ADA Accommodation of Last Resort

If disabled employees are no longer able to perform the essential functions of their job even with reasonable accommodation, under the Americans with Disabilities Act the employer must consider transferring the workers to an...more

Responding to Accommodation Requests From Unvaccinated Employees

As more businesses move toward ending remote working arrangements, we have had a number of questions from clients with regard to employee requests to continue working from home for medical reasons. The employees cite a...more

Could Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Policy Violate OSHA Retaliation Rules?

Some employers are considering mandating COVID-19 vaccinations as a condition of employment. While such policies are generally legal (with some religious and disability accommodations included), they could result in claims...more

Fourth Circuit Ruling on ADA Reassignment Has Major Implications for Employers

In the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2002 Barnett decision, the court held that qualified disabled employees are entitled to reassignment to an existing vacant position under the Americans with Disabilities Act if they become unable...more

Federal Coronavirus Leave Rules Set to Expire December 31

It may seem like a lifetime ago, but the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) has only been in effect since March. Just as employers have become comfortable with the law’s paid leave and other provisions, FFCRA is...more

Failure to Accommodate Supports Employee's Claim Even Without Adverse Action

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with protected disabilities. Another part of the ADA requires employers to refrain from discriminating against disabled...more

Fourth Circuit Says Employee Who Accepted Voluntary Transfer Cannot Maintain ADA Claims

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, if an employee with a disability requests accommodation, the employer must work with that person to determine if there are reasonable measures that can be taken that allow the...more

Sixth Circuit Reminds Employers to Consider Transfers as ADA Accommodations

In order to claim discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act, employees must demonstrate that they could perform the essential functions of the job but were denied a reasonable accommodation. Some employers...more

ADA Allows Employers to Offer ‘Last Chance' to Employees After Alcohol or Drug Violations

As an alternative to termination, employers faced with employee drug or alcohol policy violations sometimes want to give that person a second chance. Typically, this process involves a commitment by the employee to seek...more

ADA Request Must Show Connection Between Disability and Work Limitation

From time to time, we encounter requests from employees for accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act that appear unrelated to the employee’s underlying medical condition. For example, an employee with a back...more

Employers Should Carefully Manage Interactive Process When Considering ADA Accommodations

In some situations, employers call us to ask about an employee’s request for job modifications that appear unworkable on their face. Sometimes, the requests remove a substantial part of the employee’s job duties, often...more

Employers Can End Accommodations That Go Beyond ADA Requirements

When companies change management, employees sometimes believe it is unfair to hold them to higher performance standards than those required by their former supervisors. When it comes to accommodations made to disabled...more

Sixth Circuit Says Attendance Was Essential Function of Job

If asked to describe the essential functions of a given job, most employers would include actually showing up to work as a critical component. In recent years the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has taken the position...more

Don't Condition Return to Work on ‘100 Percent Recovery'

When asked recently about the return of star quarterback Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera responded that he will not play until he is 100 percent recovered from a foot injury. While fine for NFL players,...more

Employee's Request for Leave Triggered ADA Accommodation Obligations

The EEOC and federal courts have repeatedly said that employees seeking accommodations for disabilities under the ADA do not have to use any “magic words” to trigger the employer’s obligations. A recent decision from the...more

Employees Seeking ADA Accommodations Do Not Have to Make Formal Request

Employees or applicants with disabling medical conditions must place the employer on notice of such condition in order to claim protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act. However, as reminded in a new decision from...more

Employers Can Modify or Revoke ADA Accommodations if Underlying Job Duties Change

In his classic 1998 business book “Who Moved my Cheese?,” Spencer Johnson discussed the need for businesses and employees to focus on the need to adapt to changes in their industries. In our practice, we frequently see claims...more

Failure to Explain Inconsistency Between SSDI Application and ADA Claims Results in Dismissal

In its Cleveland v. Policy Mgmt. Syst. decision, the U.S. Supreme Court said that an application for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits does not automatically kill a plaintiff’s contemporaneous assertion...more

Eighth Circuit Says Employer Not Required to Follow Employee's Preference to Work From Home

Over the past several years, our practice has seen a marked increase in the number of employee accommodation requests that involve remote work. As communications technologies have improved, these employees regularly contend...more

Fourth Circuit Sets Low Bar for Employee to Challenge Medical Exam Requirement

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers may only require employees to submit to medical exams or inquiries when there is a business necessity for determining the employee’s ability to perform the essential...more

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