Substance Abuse-Related Disabilities

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An employee’s request to provide medical documentation excusing a positive drug test could trigger an employer’s obligations to engage in the interactive process, according to a recent decision by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  Jodi Hammel v. SOAR Corp., 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14361 (E.D.Pa. Feb. 6, 2015).…

Click here to read our colleague Noel P. Tripp’s blog about a recent decision rejecting three New York Police officers’ claims that they should have been paid for time spent in alcohol rehabilitation and counseling sessions.  Makinen v. City of New York, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139732 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 30, 2014).

Blanket policies prohibiting alcoholic employees from consuming alcohol permanently – whether on-duty or off-duty – violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in an informal discussion letter dated August 28, 2014.

The representative of a union whose members are employed by a public utility that operates nuclear…

A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a commercial motor vehicle driver’s claims that his employer violated the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act when it fired him after learning of his alcoholism.  Sakari Jarvela v. Crete Carrier Corporation, Case No. 13-11601 (11th Cir. June 18,…

Pre-offer drug tests to determine the use of both legal and illegal drugs violated the Americans with Disabilities Act’s prohibition on pre-offer medical inquiries, a federal court in Pennsylvania held on March 6, 2014.  EEOC v. Grane Healthcare Co. and Ebensburg Care Center, LLC, d/b/a Cambria Care Center, CV No. 3:10-250 (W. Dist. Pa.

A mental health worker at a drug addiction treatment center was not “regarded as disabled” by his employer when he was discharged for failing to disclose three felony cocaine possession convictions on his employment application, a federal court in North Carolina has held.  Rocha v. Coastal Carolina Neuropsychiatric Crisis Servs., P.A., No. 7:12-CV-2-D (E.D.N.C. …

An employee who twice failed to complete a substance abuse treatment program was not protected by either the Americans with Disabilities Act or the Family and Medical Leave Act, according to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.  Shirley v. Precision Castparts et al (5th Cir. August 12, 2013).   The employer terminated the employee for…