Staking out an exception to the general rule that the requirement to accommodate is normally triggered by a disabled employee’s request, the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said an employer must take action “if the employer knew or reasonably should have known that the employee was disabled.”
The circuit made the ruling in upholding a $900,000 award for compensatory and punitive damages, plus $644,000 in attorney fees, to Patrick S. Brady on his Americans with Disabilities Act claim against Wal-Mart for the actions of its employees at a store in Centereach, Long Island, New York.
