Today’s blog entry explores a variety of issues dealing with vindicating rights under the ADA in the face of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The case of the day is Murphy v. United Parcel Service,186188204208207 Inc., a decision from the Eastern District of Wisconsin on March 23, 2021. As usual, the blog entry is divided into categories and they are: facts; CBA need not be exhausted prior to filing an ADA claim; CBA does not require arbitration of the claim; plaintiff has standing; failure to accommodate claim do not require an adverse action; sufficient allegations exist with respect to plaintiff…

I have a ton of cases in my pipeline. However, sometimes breaking developments jump the pipeline. This is one of those situations. As everybody knows, the CDC came out with new guidelines regarding mask wearing, which can be found here185198205. Everybody and anybody is talking about them, and the guidelines have big implications for the world of the ADA and persons with disabilities. A couple of days before the guidelines came out, I read an article saying that the CDC should do exactly this type of thing as a way to encourage people to get vaccinated. Since the guideline…

Today’s case of the day deals with two questions. First, just how does association standing work? Second, what is the burden of proof when it comes to figuring out whether something is readily achievable per title III of the ADA?   The case is Schalamar Creek Mobile Homeowners Association, Inc. v. Adler decided by the 11th Circuit on May 7, 2021, here185188199200. It is an unpublished decision. So, check your jurisdiction on how persuasive the decision might be. As usual the blog entry is divided into categories, and they are: facts; association standing; burden of proof readily achievable; and…

Today’s blog entry deals with the question of what happens when an employer demands that an employee move to a different job without evaluating or completely assessing whether that employee is capable of performing his or her current job’s essential functions with or without reasonable accommodations. The answer to the question says the Fourth Circuit in Wirtes v. City of Newport News18618619620367207, a published opinion decided April 30, 2021, is that the employee survives summary judgment. This case is different than the usual reassignment situation where the person wants to be reassigned and the employer resists. Here, the employee…

This is a two hours CLE that I am doing next week. The CLE is being offered through the Georgia bar. They are only doing the CLE for Georgia. So you are on your own with respect to CLE in your own state. If you are not seeking Georgia CLE credit, just put n/a in the CLE box. The CLE is divided into two hours. The first hour will be talking about how the Airline Deregulation Act,, the Air Carrier Access Act, the ADA, and state negligence laws all bounce into each other. The second hour, we will be talking about…

I would say about 10% of my blog entries deal with ADA related nondiscrimination laws and concepts but not the ADA itself, including such things as the Fair Housing Act, Air Carrier Access Act, and constitutional law. Occasionally, we throw in a state law as well. Today is another one of those, the, Affordable Care Act (ACA), which I have not blogged on before. A recent case from the Second Circuit reveals that the ACA is another arrow in the quiver of a plaintiff’s attorney alleging that a healthcare entity did not provide effective communication. It also has a four…

Today’s blog entry is an update on a prior blog entry where I discussed a District Court of New Hampshire decision saying that legislative immunity trumps everything, including the ADA. That case got appealed to the First Circuit. I was very flattered to learn that my blog entry discussing the decision holding that legislative immunity trumps everything was actually included as an appendix by the appellant/plaintiffs in the case in their appellate brief to the First Circuit. The First Circuit on April 8, 2021 vacated the decision218 and remanded for further proceedings. Let’s see how they got to that point.…