Since the COVID-19 pandemic forced many employees to temporarily work from home, employers have struggled to bring those remote employees back to the office. Since the return to business as (almost) usual, many employees have asked to extend their flexible teleworking arrangements, sometimes by requesting remote work as a disability accommodation. Those employees would do well to heed a recent Fifth Circuit decision, Hayes v. GStek, Inc., No. 25-30392 (5th Cir. May 8, 2026), which warns that “[t]he COVID pandemic did not change the reality that in-person work is presumed to be an essential function of most jobs.”
Albert Hayes was an IT systems administrator for GStek, Inc., an Army contractor. Hayes was permitted temporarily to telework due to the COVID pandemic, but in February 2022, the Army and GStek transitioned away from telework and Hayes was required to return to in-person work. Hayes claimed to be “overstimulated by his return to the office” and, three months later, he was diagnosed with autism, major depressive disorder and social anxiety disorder. After completing intensive inpatient psychiatric treatment, Hayes submitted a reasonable accommodation request, supported by a physician’s note, asking for permission to telework. Although GStek initially was inclined to grant the request, the Army determined it “would not be in the best interest of the organization to allow full-time teleworking.” GStek yielded to the wishes of its client and instead granted Hayes...
Jeon Han-gil, a political YouTuber and former Korean history lecturer, who spread false information about President Lee Jae Myung and Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok, and advocated the "1980 Gwan...