Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

Employers' Duties When Injury Affects Ability to Perform Discussed

Excerpt from: Bloomberg BNA (click for full article)

 

The Americans with Disabilities Act is an “inadvertent leave law” so employers considering workers' leave requests must be aware that a qualified employee with a disability may be entitled to leave as a reasonable accommodation after exhausting Family and Medical Leave Act leave, EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum told an American Bar Association meeting Nov. 2.

Speaking at the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law's annual conference, Feldblum said “reasonable accommodation” originally developed under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act when a job requirement conflicted with an employee's religious beliefs. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled an employer must reasonably accommodate an employee's religious beliefs absent “undue hardship” to the employer, but the court set the undue hardship bar relatively low in the religious discrimination context, Feldblum said.

Michigan Court Dismisses Blind Student's Claim Against the ABA

Excerpt from: Case No. 11-12247 (click for full brief)

 

A Michigan Federal Court dismissed a blind student’s claim against the American Bar Association (ABA) alleging that the law school admission test (LSAT) discriminates against visually impaired test-takers. The judge reasoned that plaintiff lacked standing to sue because he failed to trace his injury to the ABA’s law school accreditation standards, since these do not “specifically direct” law schools to use the LSAT, but rather only mandate the use of a “valid and reliable” exam.  And, even if plaintiff had standing, he failed to show that the ABA “offers” the LSAT as required to fall under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Binno v. American Bar Ass’n, No. 11-12247 (E.D. Mich. Sept. 30, 2012).