Questions Presented
If a disability prevents an employee from performing the essential functions of his or her current position even with accommodation, does the ADA require an employer to reassign a minimally qualified disabled employee to a vacant position as a “reasonable accommodation” even though another individual is entitled to the position under the employer’s established best-qualified selection system?
Case Updates
Cert. petition denied
May 28, 2013
U.S. Chamber argues employers should retain right to select or promote the best qualified candidates
January 07, 2013
NCLC urged the Supreme Court to review a decision by the Seventh Circuit, which held reassignment to a vacant position as an ADA reasonable accommodation is mandatory, regardless of whether the individual with a disability is less qualified and therefore would not have been selected but-for his or her disability. In this case, the EEOC challenged the defendant company's policy of permitting reassignment as a reasonable accommodation where an individual with a disability no longer is able to perform the essential functions of his or her job arguing that the reassignment should be mandatory. NCLC argued in its amicus brief that the Seventh Circuit's decision threatens to transform the ADA into a bona fide affirmative action law. NCLC pointed out that mandating reassignment of a less qualified individual with a disability as an ADA accommodation without regard to an employer's nondiscriminatory, competitive selection process is plainly unreasonable and unjustly interferes with the unassailable right of employers to select and maintain the best qualified workforce available.
Case Documents
- Cert. Petition -- United Airlines v. EEOC (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- NCLC amicus brief in support of cert. - United Airlines v. EEOC (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf