News & Analysis as of

Hiring & Firing › Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) › Essential Functions

Hiring & Firing refers to the process of recruiting, interviewing and offering employment and the process of evaluating performance and dismissing employees. Hiring & Firing is a highly regulated area and... more +
Hiring & Firing refers to the process of recruiting, interviewing and offering employment and the process of evaluating performance and dismissing employees. Hiring & Firing is a highly regulated area and can create tremendous liability for employers who fail to properly adhere to acceptable employment practices. Some of the potential pitfalls in this area stem from discriminatory hiring practices, improper performance evaluations, and retaliatory firings.  less -
Genova Burns LLC

What Employers Should Know About The EEOC’s Final Rule On The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

Genova Burns LLC on

On April 15, 2024, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued its final rule interpreting and providing guidance on the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA)....more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Fourth Circuit Upholds Employer's Denial of Remote Work During Pandemic

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP on

During the COVID-19 pandemic and afterwards, employers have faced a growing number of requests for remote work arrangements based on a medical disability. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to grant...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Tenth Circuit Highlights Limits on Employers Defining Essential Functions of a Position

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Seyfarth Synopsis: The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a summary judgment award on an employee’s failure-to-accommodate claim. The Court’s decision focused on the employer’s improperly narrow delineation of the...more

McAfee & Taft

Appeals court finds visually impaired employee unqualified for his position

McAfee & Taft on

In a case that helps employers understand what a “reasonable accommodation” is, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a lower court’s ruling of summary judgment for a Georgia employer who was accused of...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

EEOC Issues Guidance on Artificial Intelligence and Americans with Disabilities Act Compliance

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP on

Artificial intelligence (AI) can help streamline business processes making workers more efficient and driving costs down for the consumer. What happens, though, when an employer uses AI in hiring decisions?...more

McAfee & Taft

Potential ADA accommodations abound, but here are a few declared ‘unreasonable’

McAfee & Taft on

There is no exhaustive list of potentially reasonable accommodations. Whether an accommodation is reasonable will depend on the unique circumstances of each instance, including the particular employee’s limitations and...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Fourth Circuit Ruling on ADA Reassignment Has Major Implications for Employers

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP on

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

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

7th Circuit has Spoken: Two Pound Lifting Limit, and Other Restrictions Can be an Unreasonable Accommodation under the ADA

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Seyfarth Synopsis: Athleisure company is rightfully able to terminate the employment of individual with physical limitations, despite that individual’s ability to delegate such functions of her position. See Tonyan v....more

Womble Bond Dickinson

N.C. Federal Court Allows Former Employee’s Disability Claims to Proceed to Trial

Womble Bond Dickinson on

A North Carolina federal trial court recently denied an employer’s request to dismiss a former employee’s disability discrimination and retaliation claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). The case provides a...more

Fisher Phillips

Sitting On The Job: When Sitting Is Requested As An ADA Accommodation

Fisher Phillips on

The retail setting is a particularly difficult one in which to make accommodations. This is because retail employees engage in a host of different duties that require all manner of physical activities. Those who are...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Lingering Lateness Later Litigated: 11th Circuit Rules on ADA

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP on

What happens if you give an employee an accommodation that goes above and beyond what the ADA requires? Can you change your mind down the road and stop providing that accommodation? Or are you stuck providing that...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Showing Up to Work: Sixth Circuit Clarifies When Regular, In-Person Attendance Is Required Under the ADA

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on

In Popeck v. Rawlings Company, LLC, No. 19-5092 (October 16, 2019), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the Rawlings Company on Popeck’s claims under the Americans with Disabilities...more

Proskauer - Law and the Workplace

Emerging Trend: ADA Does Not Cover Potential Future Disabilities

Proskauer - Law and the Workplace on

Heeding the adage “no one knows what the future may hold,” the Seventh, Eighth and Eleventh Circuits have uniformly refused to extend protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to employees with a perceived risk...more

Snell & Wilmer

No Crystal Ball for the ADA: Future Disabilities Not Protected Under Act

Snell & Wilmer on

On October 29, 2019, a panel of Seventh Circuit Appellate Court Judges held that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does not cover alleged discrimination based on future impairments. Shell v. Burlington N. Santa Fe Ry....more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Regular, On-Site Attendance Is Essential Function Of Auditor Job, Sixth Circuit Rules

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

The Sixth Circuit previously explained in Hostettler v. College of Wooster, 895 F.3d 844 (6th Cir. 2018) that regular, in-person attendance is not a per se essential function of every job. Rather, employers must tie...more

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC

Drafting Legally Sound Job Descriptions

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC on

Job descriptions are a crucial part of recruitment and hiring, and of performing an Equal Pay Act Analysis, classifying employees for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and developing reasonable accommodations under...more

McAfee & Taft

Change in job duties may necessitate change in ADA accommodation

McAfee & Taft on

It was a close call, but a court recently denied an employee’s Americans with Disabilities Act claim that her employer had improperly refused a request to continue working from home as an accommodation. With the growth of...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Employer’s Good Deed Goes Unpunished—Reliable Attendance Is Essential Function Despite Prior Accommodation Of Employee’s Absences

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

While it’s true that acts of generosity sometimes backfire on those who offer them, the Court’s ruling in Higgins v. Union Pac. R.R. Co., No. 18-1902 (8th Cir. July 24, 2019) shows this is not always the case. In Higgins, the...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Close Call: American Airlines Wins ADA Case by One Vote, but the Warning Signals for Employers are Loud and Clear

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Seyfarth Synopsis: In a 2-1 decision in Bilinsky v American Airlines, Inc., 2019 WL 2610944 (7th Cir. June 26, 2019), the Seventh Circuit recently affirmed American Airlines’ summary judgment win against a former employee who...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Doctor, Doctor: Fourth Circuit Allows Case to Proceed on Employee Medical Exam

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP on

When can you send an employee for a medical exam? In EEOC v. McLeod Health, Inc., the Fourth Circuit recently provided some guidance and allowed a plaintiff’s claim for an illegal medical exam to proceed to the jury despite...more

Polsinelli

Four Circuits Agree: Regular and Reliable Attendance is an Essential Job Function

Polsinelli on

Recently, the United States Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed that regular and reliable attendance is an essential function of most jobs under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Lipp v. Cargill Meat...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

District Court Clarifies That “Disability” Requiring Workplace Accommodation Does Not Entitle Plaintiff to Disability Benefits

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Seyfarth Synopsis: A recent case from the Western District of North Carolina contains a helpful example of how the standards applicable to an employee’s request for accommodation of a disability differ from those for...more

Cozen O'Connor

Job Description Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make

Cozen O'Connor on

A good job description can equip an employer with the best possible workforce available. Inaccuracies and oversights, however, can entangle your company in litigation for years. Bethany Salvatore and Bryant Andrews talk us...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Appellate Courts Agree: Regular, Reliable Attendance Is Essential Function Of Most Jobs

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

Recent decisions from the Second, Fifth, and Eighth Circuit Courts of Appeals exemplify the growing consensus amongst courts that even employees with a disability are generally required to comply with company attendance...more

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission...

EEOC and Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad Conciliate Disability Discrimination Charge

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission... on

Heritage Railroad Failed to Adequately Assess Accommodation for Applicant, Federal Agency Charged - DENVER - Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad (C&TS) has agreed to conciliate a disability discrimination charge with the...more

56 Results
 / 
View per page
Page: of 3
Next »

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
Sign up Log in
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
- hide
- hide