Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Restaurant Owners Increasingly Targeted With EEOC Lawsuits Over “Family Medical Leave Act” Liability; Employees Who Use Up “Available Paid Sick Leave” Assert Disability Rights

“…Previously, if an employee had exhausted all twelve weeks of FMLA leave and any other available leave, they could be terminated without employer liability…however, the EEOC recently has taken the position that once leave is exhausted under the FMLA, this can trigger an employer’s affirmative duty to provide a reasonable accommodation  to an employee’s disability, which can include providing additional leave..”

For 2013, food service employers can expect a continued aggressive approach from the Equal Empoyments Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) as to violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) in the restaurant industry.  The significant increase of ADA charges and lawsuits by the EEOC and private claimants, which began in early 2012, shows little sign of abating in the new year.

Back in 2008, Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendment Act (“ADAAA”), which was intended to counter a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions that significantly limited employees’ ability to assert and prevail in disability lawsuits.  Under the ADAAA, and the EEOC’s final regulations, approved in 2011, the definition of what constitutes a disability was significantly broadened.  As a result, employees who previously would not have been considered disabled under the ADA, now fall under its statutory protections.  Prior to the amended Act, employers could often prevail in litigation on the basis of whether the employee actually was considered disabled under the narrow interpretations of the Supreme Court decisions.  With the new broad definition, most cases now hinge on whether the employer reasonably accommodated the employee’s disability..

One source of increased litigation and attention from the EEOC is when the ADA intersects with the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) as to leave for a serious medical condition.   Under this scenario, employees who were terminated after exhausting FMLA leave are asserting EEOC Charges and filing lawsuits under the ADA.  Employers are also being forced to agree to high dollar settlements with the EEOC to avoid the prospect of the federal agency filing suit on behalf of employees and former employees.

For more:  http://www.bluemaumau.org/surge_ada_disability_lawsuits_continue_2013_restaurant_and_food_service_employers_crosshairs