Receipt of SSDI Benefits Does Not Provide a Basis for Dismissal of ADA Claim
SHRM
The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland denied the defendant county’s motion for summary judgment, thereby allowing a former employee to proceed to trial on her Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) case, even though she had previously pursued and received Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. Dianne K. Van Rossum was a long-standing employee with the Department of Environmental Protection and Resource Management in Baltimore County. In 2009, Van Rossum began complaining of a variety of health issues, which she attributed to the presence of mold and fungus and poor ventilation in her office. Van Rossum requested an accommodation, asking the county to relocate her. The county granted Van Rossum’s relocation request and her health seemingly improved. In 2010, upon the county informing her that she would have to return to her previous office, Van Rossum went for a medical evaluation. The physician conducting the evaluation concluded that Van Rossum’s medical history did not support any correlation between her symptoms and her work environment, and that her symptoms did not prevent her from “performing all the job-related functions of her classification.” In light of these conclusions, the county informed Van Rossum that she would have to report to work or face disciplinary action. Instead of returning to work, Van Rossum obtained leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act; then, once her leave was exhausted, she notified the county of her retirement. In so doing, Van Rossum retired two months shy of receiving her full retirement benefits. Alleging that she was unable to work because of a disabling condition, Van Rossum applied for—and began receiving—SSDI benefits. Shortly thereafter, Van Rossum filed an ADA lawsuit in Maryland federal court, in which she alleged that she was a “qualified individual” under the ADA because she was "capable of working with a reasonable accommodation at the time the county wrongfully revoked that accommodation and forced her into retirement." The county moved for summary judgment and sought the dismissal of Van Rossum’s case on the grounds that she was “estopped” from litigating an ADA lawsuit while, at the same time, receiving SSDI monetary benefits. Specifically, the county argued that Van Rossum could not now maintain that she was capable of working with a reasonable accommodation, when her receipt of SSDI benefits was based on her contention that she was unable to work because of a disabling condition. Relying on the precedent established by the U.S. Supreme Court in Cleveland v. Policy Management Systems Corp., the district court denied the county’s motion for summary judgment. In Cleveland, the U.S Supreme Court held that an individual’s “pursuit, and receipt, of SSDI benefits does not automatically estop the recipient from pursuing an ADA claim,” nor does the law “erect a strong presumption against the recipient’s success under the ADA.” In support of its holding, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that there are “many situations in which an SSDI claim and an ADA claim can comfortably exist side by side” because “when the [Social Security Administration] determines whether an individual is disabled for SSDI purposes, it does not take the possibility of ‘reasonable accommodation’ into account, nor need an applicant refer to the possibility of reasonable accommodation when she applies for SSDI.” Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s lead in Cleveland and its progeny, the district court held that statements made by Van Rossum in connection with her SSDI application would not serve as a bar from her proceeding with her ADA claim. However, despite allowing Van Rossum to proceed to trial, the district court cautioned that statements and documents raised in support of Van Rossum’s SSDI proceedings were nonetheless relevant to her ADA case, as a jury could rely upon such evidence to find that Van Rossum was unable to perform her essential duties at the time of her departure from her employment with the county. Van Rossum v. Baltimore County, D. Md., Civil No. JKB-14-115 (April 4, 2016).
Is Obesity a Disability Under the ADA Not Without Physical Impairment Eighth Circuit Rules
JD Supra
Obesity does not meet the definition of a “disability” under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for either the discrimination or “regarded as” provisions of the statute, a panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held, unless it is also a “physical impairment,” which means that it must be a “physiological disorder or condition . . . affecting one or more major body systems.” As a result, in Morriss v. BNSF Railway Co., the Eighth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the railroad.
Is Obesity a Legally Protected Disability?
Huffington Post
The federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (1990), as well as state statutes, provide protection for qualified individuals from employment discrimination based upon “disability.” Courts have reached differing conclusions concerning the legal status of obesity. This comment provides a brief overview of two recent contradictory judicial decisions without discussing medical research, food marketing, and lifestyle issues.
Connection To Someone With A Disability Is Nearly Identical To An Actual Disability
Mondaq News Alerts
As disability discrimination and accommodation claims continue to rise across the country, an appellate court in California may have just helped significantly expand such claims in the future by finding that an employee can maintain a suit for “associational” disability discrimination based on the disability of his son.
ND employees receive disability resources
Observer Online
This is the sixth day in a series on disability at Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s. Today’s story focuses on the resources available for faculty and staff with disabilities at the University.
Silenced by autism, a young man finds his voice
CBS News
Benjamin Alexander cannot speak, but he is determined to be heard. He cannot type without a hand to support his, and yet he writes and writes, his inner voice shouting out his thoughts. He returns repeatedly to the "fiend" that tried to silence him, the autism he sarcastically calls his "gift."