Monday, May 23rd, 2016
On May 19, 2016, the Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a Statement of Interest (SOI) in Golden v. Indianapolis Housing Agency, No. 15-cv-00766 (S.D. Ind.). Our SOI clarifies the proper interpretation of Section 504 and the ADA with respect to an employer’s obligation to consider a request for additional, unpaid leave as a reasonable accommodation and its obligation to evaluate whether an employee who seeks an accommodation is qualified. Specifically, we argue that an employer must consider an employee’s request for additional, unpaid leave as a request for a reasonable accommodation if the additional leave is necessary to enable an employee with a disability to return to work after treatment and care of a disability-related condition, even if the employer has a policy limiting the number of weeks employees can take medical-related leave. We further argue that it is inappropriate to consider whether the employee could perform the essential functions of her job during the time period she requested disability-related leave as a reasonable accommodation. Instead, we argue that the correct assessment of whether an employee is a qualified individual should be made as of the date the employee anticipates returning to work—i.e., at the end of the leave of absence the employee is requesting
For more information, please visit our ADA website at www.ADA.gov. Those interested in finding out more about the ADA may also call the Justice Department's toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 or 800-514-0383 (TTY).
Article Credit: U.S. Department of Justice
Contributor Credit: CASI's Staff provided this story; if you know of an article that is relevent to CASI, please share by sending an email to info@casinstitute.