More than 34 years after the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted, it’s still not entirely clear who can sue under the law. In a case before the U.S. Supreme Court in its upcoming term, justices will decide if former employees can sue over post-employment benefits. The case involves a city that reduced its disability retirement health benefits, allegedly for budgetary reasons.
“This decision will have little to no effect on employers who do not offer post-employment benefits,” said Ryan Bates, an attorney with Hunton Andrews Kurth in Washington, D.C., and Vienna, Va. However, if the upcoming ruling is in the plaintiff’s favor, it may deter employers from offering such benefits based on the fear that they may later be sued for routine adjustments, he added.
“Although most HR professionals already take care to ensure that policies do not have a discriminatory impact on any protected class, post-employment benefits are often the first to be amended when there are budget challenges,” said Ellen Donovan McCann, an attorney with Littler in Boston. If the Supreme Court rules for the plaintiff, “more care may have to be paid to those changes.”
The case, Stanley v. City of Sanford, Fla., was brought by a retired firefighter for the city of Sanford, Fla. When she started working for the city in 1999, one of the fringe benefits was a retirement health insurance subsidy, which covered the cost of health insurance for qualifying retirees until they reached age...
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