November 21, 2024
RTO & COVID-19 – Yep, It’s Still a Thing
In the last month, I have read several stories of employers being sued over their Return-to-Office policies or programs. If you require an employee to return to working on-site, rather than remotely, consider any objections on a case-by-case basis. Here are just two recent examples.
November 8th – A jury awarded a former employee $12.69M (that’s right…million) after she requested a religious accommodation. She asked to be excused from complying with the employer’s policy that required all employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Her request was denied, and she was fired.
November 21st – A company agreed to pay $65,000 to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the EEOC. The lawsuit alleged the employee repeatedly requested remote work as a reasonable accommodation because of her high-risk status with respect to COVID-19.
If your employee objects to returning to work on-site, listen. Understand the basis of the employee’s objection. Rather than simply applying a blanket rule across the board, consider the impact to your business operations. The EEOC explains, the employer “denied the employee’s reasonable accommodation request based on criteria that applied equally to all [employees] seeking to work remotely instead of engaging in an individualized assessment of the employee’s disability-related needs, as required by the ADA.”
It’s not just the money. In the November 21st case, under the two-year decree resolving the lawsuit, the company agreed to implement an ADA compliance policy and distribute it to all employees; provide annual training to its U.S. managers and human resources personnel on the ADA; and allow the EEOC to monitor how it processes future ADA accommodation requests.
