Our blog entry of the day reminds me of the situation where a team wins the football game but loses a key player in the process. I thought of that when reading EEOC v. Walmart Stores East, L.P., here, decided by the Seventh Circuit on August 27, 2024. As usual, the blog entry is
interactive process
Roadmap for Dealing with Emotional Support Animals Matters
By William Goren on
Posted in ADA, Fair Housing Act, General, Guidances, State Cases, State Statutes, Title II, Title III
This may very well be a week with two blog entries for three reasons. First, there is the blog that will be the subject of this blog entry. Second, if I have this figured right, this is the last week that the Supreme Court has for issuing opinions before their summer recess. I am particularly…
Mandatory Reassignment: The View From the Fifth Circuit
By William Goren on
One of the hot areas in title I of the ADA is the question of whether an employer has a mandatory duty of reassignment to a vacant position where the employee is no longer qualified per the ADA for that position. The circuits are split on that, so it is just a matter of time…
Title I Tutorial: King v. Stuart Trumbull Memorial Hospital Inc.
By William Goren on
I have quite a stack of cases in my pipeline to blog on. When I went digging through them, I came across a decision from April 7 of 2022 (that isn’t a misprint). The case is King v. Stuart Trumbull Memorial Hospital, Inc., a published decision from the Sixth Circuit, here, and it has…
Interactive Process Obligation Continues Through Litigation
By William Goren on
Today’s blog entry deals with the question of whether the interactive process continues through any litigation and whether evidence of that interactive process taking place or not taking place when the case is being litigated can be brought into evidence. The case is Kovachich v. Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, here, decided…
Did the Fifth Circuit Get it Right When it Said that Manifestation of a Disability Does Not Excuse Bad Conduct?
By William Goren on
Today’s case of the day is Harkey v. NextGen Healthcare, Inc., here, decided by the Fifth Circuit in a per curiam decision on July 15, 2022. The case is better known as the sleepwalker claiming disability discrimination case, and it has been over the legal blogosphere due to its sensational facts, which are described…
Preventive Law Demands Accommodating the Disability and not the Essential Functions of the Job
By William Goren on
An emerging issue is whether when it comes to accommodating a person with a disability in an employment situation, are you accommodating the disability or are you accommodating the essential functions of the job. The easy scenario where that matters is when dealing with an employee with a service dog. Recently, Hobby Lobby was sued…
Unreasonable Delay in Granting a Reasonable Accommodation Request is Actionable
By William Goren on
What if an entity slow walks the reasonable accommodation process with the hope that the person with the disability will, for example, graduate, age out of the program, simply go away? Is an unreasonable delay in granting a reasonable accommodation actionable under the ADA? Two cases out of the jurisdiction of the Seventh Circuit say…
Medical Leave as a Reasonable Accommodation: The View from the Sixth Circuit
By William Goren on
Today’s case of the day is a published decision from the Sixth Circuit decided March 8, 2022. The case is Blanchet v. Charter Communications, LLC, here, and it contains a couple of lessons for employers. First, outsourcing HR doesn’t mean that you lose responsibility for what happens if the third-party administrator doesn’t comply with…
Disability Related Conduct and Unspecified Leave is not the Same as Indefinite Leave
By William Goren on
Today’s blog entry is a two for one, both dealing in the failure to accommodate space broadly speaking. The first case is Humphrey v. Memorial Hospitals Association, 239 F.3d 1128 (9th Cir. 2001). That case considers the question of whether conduct related to a disability has to be evaluated differently with respect to the…