Second Circuit: ADA Can Require Accommodation Even When Employee Could Perform Job Without It

At a Glance

• Second Circuit finds employers may be required to accommodate an employee's disability even if the employee can perform the job without a reasonable accommodation.
• Decision means that employers in the Second Circuit (Connecticut, New York, Vermont) can no longer rely on a per se rule that employees who can perform the essential functions of their position without accommodation are ineligible for required accommodation under the ADA.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) may require an employer to accommodate a disability even when an employee could perform the job without it. That is the upshot of the recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Tudor v. Whitehall Central School District. The ruling clarifies prior Second Circuit precedent and joins other circuits that hold “an employee with a disability is qualified to receive a reasonable accommodation under the ADA even if she can perform the essential job