The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires an employer to reasonably accommodate a qualified individual with a disability to allow the person to perform the essential functions of the job, unless it creates an undue hardship for the employer. A person cannot be a qualified individual with a disability under the ADA, however, if he or she is unable to perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation.
In determining what job functions are essential, the ADA states that courts must consider an employer’s business judgment as to what they are. In a helpful ruling out of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the court recently reinforced the notion that regular job attendance can be an essential function under the ADA by upholding dismissal of a plaintiff’s failure-to-accommodate lawsuit.
Deferring to the employer’s judgment that regular office attendance was an essential function of the plaintiff’s position as a litigation attorney, the Fifth Circuit in Credeur v. State of Louisiana, No. 16-30658 (5th Cir. June 23, 2017), observed that “we do not allow employees to define the essential functions of their positions based solely on their personal viewpoint and experience.” In doing so, the appeals court cited with approval to the Sixth Circuit’s 2015 ruling in EEOC v. Ford Motor Co.
A copy of the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Credeur is available here.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.