August 21, 2026
4th Circuit Finds ADA Retaliation “Dressed Up” as a Business Decision
In this case, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals considered the employer’s request to overturn a verdict finding it guilty on four counts. Three were for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): failure to accommodate, discriminatory discharge, and retaliation. The fourth was a state law claim.
Good News for the Employer: The court granted its request on three of the four counts.
Bad News for the Employer: The court upheld the verdict finding it fired an employee in retaliation for his request for a reasonable accommodation, including the damage award of more than $14M (the original award on all counts was over $22M). What do we learn from this case?
Don’t try to predict the future. The court pointed out that while considering the employee’s request for a reasonable accommodation, the employer concluded that giving the requested accommodation a trial period would only “delay the inevitable.” As a result, it offered the employee no reasonable accommodation.
Conduct sound risk assessments. The employer decided to evaluate which was a “bigger risk: business issues from allowing remote work or denying the employee’s accommodation request.” It appears they went with the former without giving the employee’s requested accommodation a “trial period.” Like above, they predicted the future risk based on speculation.
Timing might not be everything but… The court noted that the employer’s “RIF protocol required a month’s long waiting period and followed an established process.” But in this employee’s case, “A mere two weeks lapsed from the initial decision to terminate [the employee] to his termination.”
Want more ADA news, cases, and practical tips? Check out the archived recording of the August 26th webcast, “ADA Update 2026: Practical Pitfalls & Proactive Practices.”
