WASHINGTON — COVID-19 changed many things for employers and employees, but the Americans with Disabilities Act remains the same, Jillian Cutler, partner at the employee-side firm Frank Freed Subit & Thomas told attendees at the American Bar Association’s Section of Labor and Employment Law conference Nov. 11.
“During COVID, there’s been a sense of getting away from some of the core, basic standards of the ADA,” Cutler said. “It’s the same law that has always applied.”
It’s a reminder that may serve organizations well as they move into the next phase of the pandemic, one in which many will be calling employees back to the office. A recent Resume Builder survey found that 90% of employers would require their workers to return to in-person work at least part of the week in 2023.
Cutler said she has seen plenty of organizations exhibiting what she called “flexibility fatigue,” with exasperated managers demanding more boundaries and structure to remote and hybrid work. “To a certain extent, that’s a very human reaction,” Cutler said, yet even if managers are ready to shake things up, she offered a word of caution: “Don’t forget that the duty to accommodate continues.”
That’s because flexible work is still a hot topic in the ADA context. Courts continue to weigh, for example, whether remote work arrangements, even for part of the workweek, could be a reasonable accommodation for workers with disabilities. Remote work may benefit workers with a disability or chronic illness...
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