WALMART TO PAY $5.2M IN DISABILITY BIAS CASE
On October 10, 2019, a jury found that Walmart violated the ADA by refusing to provide a reasonable accommodation to a deaf and visually impaired cart pusher and awarded $5.2 million in damages for firing him due to his disability. A disabled Walmart employee of 16 years performed his job with the accommodation of assistance from a job coach provided by public funding. A new Walmart manager suspended the employee and requested to resubmit medical paperwork in order to keep hi
The Ministerial Exception Does Not Foreclose ADA Claims of Catholic School Teacher
On December 17, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s summary judgment in favor of a Catholic school and remanded in an employment discrimination action under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Biel v. St. James Sch., No. 17-55180, 2018 WL 6597221 (9th Cir. Dec. 17, 2018). Plaintiff Kristin Biel was fired from her fifth-grade teaching position at St. James Catholic School after she told her employer that she had breast can
Burden of Proving the Availability of a Reasonable Accommodation is on Plaintiff
On May 11, 2018, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that it is an employee’s burden to prove that an ADA accommodation was available. In Snapp v. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co., an employee who suffered from sleep apnea took a long-term disability leave. Snapp v. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co., 10-cv-05577, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12336 (9th Cir. Or., May 11, 2018). The employee’s long-term disability benefits were terminated after he refused to complet
