Trinity Employee May Have ‘Implied’ Need for Accommodation

Trinity Health may have been aware of an employee’s need for more time to complete CPR recertification or a job reassignment while she continued to recover from neck surgery, a divided federal appeals court ruled (Kowitz v. Trinity Health, 2016 BL 344385, 8th Cir., No. 15-1584, 10/17/16).

The decision addresses the important issue of whether and when an employer’s duty under the Americans with Disabilities Act to accommodate a disabled worker may be triggered without an express request from the employee. It reaffirms the general notion—followed by most, if not all, courts—that no “magic words” ...