Recent legal developments involving remote worker claims

As more companies require remote employees to return to their physical office locations, the status of remote work is evolving, with more and more employers facing challenges to their decisions regarding their remote workforces. Two recent court decisions are examples of how remote workers’ claims are being handled.

Where do remote workers sue their employer?

For the first six years of her employment with The American Oncologic Hospital, Inna Khartchenko worked on-site in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 2013, she began a hybrid remote schedule, working some days from her home in New Jersey. Once the COVID-19 pandemic took off, her entire department began working a fully remote work schedule. Later, she received approval to work remotely through June 2023—an arrangement that not only allowed her to spend more time at home with her ailing husband but also facilitated her own recovery after undergoing major surgery in January 2023.

Before Khartchenko’s preapproved remote work arrangement was set to expire in June, a new supervisor began taking steps to end her work-at-home status, requiring that she return to the office three days a week. According to Khartchenko, the new supervisor’s actions were discriminatory, retaliatory, and in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).