DISABILITY AND PERCEIVED DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION, INCLUDING ADA, INTERACTIVE PROCESS, FAILURE TO ACCOMMODATE, ETC.

• Settled a mediation wherein a baggage handler suffered a back injury on the job and alleged he was in too much pain to come into the office to fill out and discuss an incident report. Company concluded that plaintiff was avoiding a mandatory drug screening and terminated him.

• Resolved a case where an employee of a large landscaping company injured his back at work and needed an accommodation to continue working. Plaintiff claimed that the company failed to reasonably accommodate him and fired him shortly thereafter. Company alleged that plaintiff was part of reduction in force wherein 10% of employees were laid off.

• Settled a case where an employee loan officer working for a large wholesale mortgage company suffered from a disability that required several leaves of absence, which were accommodated. However, during this time period, the company believed that the employee was not performing well, and consistently failed to meet its “key performance indicators.” Employee was terminated as part of reduction in force when the company’s business model changed.

• Resolved a case regarding an employee who worked for a major airline as a ticketing agent. The plaintiff suffered a knee injury requiring surgery, and needed an accommodation of sitting ten minutes per hour when she came back to work. The company alleged it could not accommodate the employee’s work restriction for a variety of reasons, including that a stool was a tripping hazard, and asserted that plaintiff would at times need to carry baggage that exceeded her work restrictions.

• Settled a case involving a senior executive of a large company who suffered a severe back injury and was given the accommodation of arriving to work at 10 a.m. so that his commute time, which often caused him back pain, would be minimized. After accommodating the executive for eight years, the company abruptly told the employee he had to be at work at 8:30 a.m., which nearly doubled his commute time. This allegedly followed a comment by a more senior executive that “the laziness around here is over.”