What makes an accommodation "reasonable"?

Let's talk about Nguyen v. Bessent and the IRS's year-long effort to accommodate an employee with medical limitations.

Thuy-Ai Nguyen, an IT specialist at the IRS, requested multiple accommodations related to her severe depression, anxiety, and cognitive impairment. Her requests? A transfer to a different division, formal training, a part-time schedule, and the ability to work from home or transfer to a location with a shorter commute.

The IRS partially granted her requests: It offered her a new assignment with different immediate supervisors, on-the-job training, and a six-month part-time schedule. But it denied her telework request, arguing that in-person training was necessary. They also searched for positions closer to her home but found no vacancies.

Nguyen rejected the offer, arguing it wasn't a "reasonable" accommodation because her higher-level manager remained the same and she still had to commute to the same location.

The court disagreed.

How to respond to the Justice Department's DEI hitlist

"The Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division will investigate, eliminate, and penalize illegal DEI and DEIA preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities in the private sector." 

 

That's the key sentence from a Feb. 5, 2025, memo that Attorney General Pam Bondi sent to all DOJ employees.

What does it mean? No one really knows. What we do know is that diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility are top priorities for this administration. The key question is how the administration defines "illegal."

Here's what we can infer so far:

What hiring and employment look like without DEI

What does a country without DEI look like? Some people say that's what they want. No more diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in hiring or the workplace. Just a pure "meritocracy."

So what does that actually look like?

Neurodivergence is not an excuse for racism

"He's on the spectrum" is not an excuse for racism.

I've seen more than one person attempt to justify Elon Musk's Nazi salute, or dismiss it, citing his Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism spectrum disorder.

I call 🐂💩!

Bigotry, racism, and antisemitism are not symptoms of Asperger's or autism. They are, however, hallmarks of being a bigot, racist, or antisemite.

A lesson on ADA compliance

What happens when an employer fails to take an employee's disability seriously? It might look a lot like the case of Sutherland v. Peterson's Oil Service.

This recent First Circuit decision offers a crash course on the perils of ignoring an employee's requests for accommodations—and the consequences of getting it wrong.

ADA covers more than those who are limited in their ability to work

What happens when an employer ignores the definition of "disability" under the ADA? A lawsuit—and a lesson in what not to do. A recent 6th Circuit decision highlights how important it is to get the definition right—and why denying a reasonable accommodation like a job transfer can land you in legal trouble.

The "R-word" is making a comeback

According to Rolling Stone magazine, the "R-word" is making a comeback as part of a hard-right online trend using it to slander those who do not agree with their politics.

The resurgence of the "R-word" as a slur is more than offensive—it's harmful. It perpetuates stigma, dehumanization, and exclusion, particularly for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

This isn't about ignorance. Everyone knows why that word is ugly. Its recent resurgence in mainstream discourse, fueled by social media and some high-profile offenders, is a deliberate attempt to provoke and devalue. It's not just juvenile name-calling; it's a message—one that says some people are less deserving of respect, dignity, or a voice.

"RFK Jr.'s job application: part psych eval and all wrong

"I don't have that much interest in having a sexual experience with another person."

"I believe in things many others don't—like having a 'sixth sense,' clairvoyance, and telepathy.

"As an adolescent, I had bizarre fantasies or preoccupations."

Those are among the odd and inappropriate questions that applicants seeking to work for RFK Jr.'s Department of Health and Human Services must answer as part of the application process. They also appear to be taken from the criteria for a schizotypal personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition.

They are also a big legal no-no.

Spying on your sick employees is a recipe for disaster

Do you remember the episode of The Office where Dwight stakes out Oscar's house to see if he's faking a medical condition and committing insurance fraud?

Believe it or not, something similar is happening in real life at Tesla. The managing director and human resources director of one of its foreign gigafactories recently targeted 30 employees on sick leave for home visits. While the HR director claims the visits had "nothing to do with general suspicion," the managing director has a documented history of intolerance toward factory workers who "couldn't get out of bed."

Needless to say, the employees did not appreciate the visits. "You could just tell by the aggression," the HR director said. Employees slammed doors, threatened to call the police, and questioned why the visits weren't scheduled in advance.

"100% healed" = 100% illegal

The EEOC has sued Navitas Systems for its "100% healed" return to work policy.

The case involves the company's former division controller, who suffered a severe rotator cuff injury and fractured wrist. His doctor cleared him to return to work with restrictions, limiting the use of his injured left arm. Confident that he could still handle all the essential functions of his job with his right arm, he asked to come back to work, despite Navitas's policy. The company, however denied his request and fired him.

"Policies that require an employee to be restriction-free before returning to work run afoul of the ADA," said Miles Uhlar, the local EEOC trial attorney handling the case. "This employee could have performed the essential functions of his position. By strictly applying its '100% release' policy, Navitas violated the ADA."

Meteorologist fired for 'sharing recovery journey publicly' raises issues of disability discrimination

"Thank you for going on this journey with me despite the yucky medical stuff I have going on. I'm happy to announce I am 9 months sober!"

That's what local television meteorologist and personality Hollie Strano wrote on her personal Instagram last month. Eleven days later, her employer, WKYC/Tegna, fired her. (The "yucky medical stuff" she referred to is ovarian cancer.)

"I believe the actions of WKYC and Tegna demonstrate the stigma surrounding addiction that so many in our community experience every day," Strano shared after her termination.

I believe this goes beyond stigma; it looks like disability discrimination.

The interactive process is a two-way street

The interactive process for disability reasonable accommodations is a two-way street, requiring participation from both the employer and the employee. If either party fails to participate or withdraws from the process, that party will likely lose in a subsequent ADA failure-to-accommodate lawsuit.

A recent case, Wilson v. Dept. of Mental Health & Addiction Services, decided by the 6th Circuit, serves as an example.

Temporary impairments as ADA disabilities

Does recovery following surgery qualify as a "disability" under the ADA? Well, it depends.

Consider, for example, the recent court of appeals decision in Long v. KeltanBW. Long worked as a floating teacher in a daycare center owned and operated by KeltanBW. Less than one month after starting her job, Long took time off for liposuction surgery. Upon her return to work eight weeks later, the employer assigned her to the preschool rooms to accommodate her temporary post-surgery lifting restrictions. Within a couple of months, however, KeltanBW fired her for poor attendance. 

Long sued, claiming disability discrimination.

Call me … maybe? 6th Circuit saves FMLA claim of employee who failed to follow employer's call-in rules.

Latrice Crispell, a 23-year employee of FCA working as a floater on its truck assembly line, suffered from major depression and anxiety, which qualified her for intermittent leave under the FMLA. FCA had a strict 30-minute call-in rule, requiring employees to notify their supervisors of any absence at least 30 minutes before their shift, or later with a statement explaining the missed call-in.

Crispell struggled to comply with that rule during severe flare-ups of her condition, which she argued made it impossible for her to call in on time and made her absent or late 15 times during the final three months of her employment. Despite submitting explanations and a doctor's note about how her illness made it impossible for her to comply with the 30-minute rule during flare-ups, FCA disciplined and ultimately terminated her.

Despite the employee failing to meet FCA's call-in requirements for her intermittent leave, the 6th Circuit reversed the trial court's grant of summary judgment to the employer. 

A ruff reasonable accommodation claim

Samantha Howard worked as a pharmacist for Boswell Regional Health Center. She suffers from Type I diabetes along with hypoglycemic unawareness, which prevents her from knowing when her blood sugar dangerously drops. To help manager her blood sugar, she requested a diabetic-alert service dog as a reasonable accommodation. The employer, however, denied the request because of hygiene concerns and risk of contamination to sterile work areas.

The 8th Cir. Court of Appeals heldheld that the employer had lawfully denied Howard's accommodation request for two key reasons: (1) she had performed her essential job functions for more than a year, and therefore the accommodation was not necessary; and (2) the employer had valid and legitimate concerns about contamination and risks to the sterility of the work environment.

Context, not "magic words," is what matters in judging reasonable accommodation requests, 6th Circuit says

"I'm struggling and need some time to get back to normal. Working 53 hours my first week back is hard for me physically."

That's what Mary Ellen Yannick, a bakery department manager at Kroger's, told Marli Schnepp, her store manager, within a week of Yannick's return from a four-month leave of absence following breast-cancer surgery.

In response, and instead of discussing with Yannick a reasonable accommodation, Schnepp told her that "business was business." If she couldn't hack it, Schnepp told her, she'd have to step down. That's exactly what Yannick did, transferring to a lesser position at another store. She also sued.

For Ohio employers, it doesn't matter what the DEA says about marijuana

News recently broke that the DEA intends to reclassify cannabis from a Scheule I drug to a Schedule III drug. That reclassification would permit health care providers to legally prescribe cannabis for medicinal uses.

As a result of this reclassification, employers would likely inherit a legal obligation under the ADA to reasonably accommodate an employee's use of legally prescribed marijuana. It would no different that the use of any other Schedule III drug (e.g., ketamine or codeine) — you have to accommodate its use off duty but not employees' impairments on duty.

BUT … check your state law. 

Remote work as a reasonable accommodation

A former UCLA employee has sued the university, claiming that if fired him in retaliation for requesting to continue to work from home after its "work from home" order ended.

According to his complaint, the 23-year employee, who last worked as a mechanic in the physical sciences machine shop, suffers from disabilities that affect his arms and hands. The lawsuit alleges that his supervisor denied his request to continue working from home after Covid work from home orders ended, despite most other employees continuing to work remotely. After the university later laid him off, he sued.

Courts are generally in agreement on two things related to remote work as a reasonable accommodation: 1) regular, in-person work is an essential function of most jobs; and 2) remote work as a reasonable accommodation is a highly fact-specific inquiry.

Workplace harassment and employee assistance programs

Is it legal under the ADA to mandate that an employee accused of sexual harassment use the company's employee assistance program? That's the question being asked in a lawsuit the EEOC just filed against Weis Markets.

Failure to advise employer of a disability dooms employee’s ADA claim

True or false — An employer must always reasonably accommodate an employee’s disability if necessary to permit the employee to perform the essential functions of the job unless it causes an undue hardship on the employer?

Answer — False. An employer does not have an obligation to grant a reasonable accommodation that an employee never requests.

Case in point: Mueck v. La Grange Acquisitions.