Risk & Business Magazine Spectrum Insurance Magazine Fall 2017 | Page 26

BIG ADA WIN
Seventh Circuit Hands Employers Big ADA Win;
Rejects EEOC’s Long-Term Medical Leave
Of Absence Guidance
F
ew employment issues confound
employers as much as employee
requests for medical leaves
of absence. Most employers
know that the federal Family
and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA)
and similar state laws provide covered
employees at least twelve weeks of
unpaid leave for various reasons. 1 That
requirement seems simple enough, but the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 2
and state laws like the Wisconsin Fair
Employment Act (WFEA) 3 complicate the
FMLA’s seemingly straightforward leave
entitlement.
Some employers do not realize that, once
an employee exhausts the FMLA leave
entitlement (or if the employee is not
eligible for FMLA leave at all), the employee
may be entitled to additional protections
under the ADA, WFEA, or similar laws in
other states. For employers already aware
of these issues, it may seem that, according
to the United States Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC), an
employer’s obligation to provide leave
has no bounds. 4 According to the Court
of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit,
which oversees federal courts in Illinois,
Indiana, and Wisconsin, the ADA does not
complicate leave requests as much as the
EEOC has led us to believe.
In Severson v. Heartland Woodcraft, Inc.,
Severson, the former employee, asked his
employer, Heartland, for an additional two-
or three-month leave after exhausting his
FMLA entitlement. 5 Severson needed the
additional time off due to a back surgery
he had on his last day of FMLA-protected
leave. 6 Heartland denied Severson’s request,
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terminated his employment, and invited
Severson to reapply for employment once
medically cleared to work. 7
Severson declined Heartland’s invitation
and instead sued Heartland. 8 Severson
claimed that Heartland violated the ADA
by failing to provide him a reasonable
accommodation, i.e., three months of
and
rufino gaytán iii
leave beyond the twelve-week FMLA
entitlement. 9 The United States District
Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
disagreed with Severson and granted
summary judgment in favor of Heartland
because Severson was no longer a “qualified
individual” as a result of his need for a
months-long leave. 10