Law Firm’s Two Offices May Bring It Under ADA in Job Bias

Watkins & Letofsky LLP may have had the 15 employees needed to trigger Americans with Disabilities Act coverage for an associate attorney in Nevada who sought a reduced schedule for health reasons, the Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday.

A lower court dismissed Amy Buchanan’s 2019 suit because the civil litigation firm’s Nevada office didn’t have 15 or more workers at the time. But the “integrated enterprise” test applies to ADA job discrimination cases and the lower court failed to consider whether Watkins & Letofsky collectively had at least 15 employees on its Nevada and California offices, the appeals court said.

The ...