WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday continued to narrow the Americans With Disabilities Act, ruling that, in most circumstances, employers do not have to disturb an established seniority system to accommodate the needs of a disabled worker.
The 5-4 ruling in U.S. Airways v. Barnett, 00-1250, means that U.S. Airways does not have to give disabled baggage handler Robert Barnett a job in its San Francisco mail room as a “reasonable accommodation” under the law, when two employees with more seniority were also seeking the same job.
