Tag Archives: disability

A California appeals panel has reversed a lower court verdict denying the claims of an HIV-positive woman whose surgery was canceled at the last minute by an anesthesiologist who was worried he might contract the disease. Plaintiff Maureen K. developed a painful hernia and scheduled reparative surgery in 2009, three years after being diagnosed HIV-positive. With the consent of her immunologist, Maureen stopped taking her anti-retroviral (ARV) medications two months before the procedure because they were causing negative side effects. …

A recent case in California has raised the issue of how two state laws designed to protect pregnant workers interact. A woman who used up her pregnancy leave and wanted more time under the general disability law will have her day in court, according to Sanchez v. Swissport.   Pregnancy + Disability = More Time Off Under the California Pregnancy Disability Leave Law (PDLL), women are eligible for four months of pregnancy leave. The PDLL is part of the California …

In two recent cases, the EEOC settled with employers who had fired workers because of positive drug tests for prescription drugs. But in states where medical marijuana is legal, can employers fire employees who test positive but have prescriptions for the drug?   Drug Tests & Disability Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), of course, employers are forbidden from discriminating against workers based on their disabilities. Nor can an employer discriminate against an employee based on its perception – …

An Ohio company has settled with EEOC for $50,000 after firing an employee who tested positive for a prescribed medication for her bipolar disorder. The agency accused the company of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.   Adverse Reaction at Work Chassity Brady was a quality control lab technician in the Braselton, Ga. facility of Dayton Superior Corporation, a concrete and masonry construction company, according to the EEOC. After Brady had an adverse reaction at work to a drug prescribed …

A Connecticut cab driver who was fired after he refused to pick up a blind customer with a service dog is now suing under the Americans with Disabilities Act, claiming his own disability – fear of dogs – and saying his employers discriminated against him. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Connecticut on September 11 against the Yellow Cab company and the Connecticut State Department of Transportation by Mansoor Ahmad and his father, another cabbie who was fired after …