Dive Brief:
- Golden State Foods Corporation terminated a 66-year-old scheduler with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease under the guise of coronavirus-related job cuts, the employee alleged in a lawsuit (Varnadoe v. Golden State Foods Corp., No. 21-cv-00964 (N.D. Ga. March 8, 2021)).
- In March 2020, GSF asked the scheduler and other employees at his plant to work remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic. His supervisors instructed him to return to work in person one month later. The plaintiff requested to continue working remotely as an accommodation for his disability, which "increased his risk of serious illness from the coronavirus." Four days later, GSF terminated him, the plaintiff alleged. The employer said his termination was part of broader job cuts caused by the pandemic, "but other members of [plaintiff's] team who had been working remotely were not eliminated," the lawsuit said.
- GSF violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when it terminated him, the plaintiff claimed.
Dive Insight:
The ADA requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to workers and job applicants with disabilities, unless doing so would create an undue hardship for the employer. The law applies to employers with 15 or more employees. In determining undue hardship, the employer's business needs, financial resources and size are taken into account, according to guidance from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Employees need not request an accommodation directly, experts say. It's important managers or HR follow up with employees who make it known that they need something, even if they don't use the language of the ADA. From there, employers are expected to engage in the interactive process to identify possible accommodations. There are several ways for an employer to show good-faith participation in the process, including asking for information about the employee's conditions; asking the employee about which accommodation her or she would prefer; and documenting the consideration of the request.
Not engaging in the interactive process isn't a per se violation of federal law, but it can serve as evidence of discrimination, experts have said. A common employer mistake is failing to counter a suggested accommodation if the business can't fulfill the initial request, experts say.
