A discrimination and harassment claim analysis in 2 parts

It seems like a very, very long time ago—at least in the world of employment law—that Congress revised the standards courts apply in disability discrimination claims brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). At the time, employers and their attorneys decried the changes wrought by the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA) as an attempt to tilt the scale drastically in favor of employees. Over time, that fear has been borne out by court decision after court decision, but never so plainly as in a recent case before a federal trial court in Mississippi.

The Mississippi court's decision to send an employee's disability discrimination claim to a jury crystallizes the problem with the revisions enacted by the ADAAA and the danger “regarded as disabled” claims pose for employers. But even as it allowed his claims to go to trial, the court admonished the employee about the flimsiness of his case and the issues he may face before the jury. Let's take a closer look.

Part 1: ADA 'regarded as' standard goes up in smoke

Robert Earl Simmons worked as a jailer at the Monroe County Jail for less than two months in late 2017 and early 2018. Shortly after he started work, Simmons claimed that his asthma was aggravated by smoking at the jail and he was forced to miss work on numerous occasions to seek medical attention. He alleged that he requested, “as a reasonable accommodation,” that the jail simply enforce its no-smoking policy, which it declined to do.