Openness to Disability-Based Telework Grew in US Courts in 2025

The US government and other major employers like Amazon.com Inc., Deloitte LLP, and JPMorgan Chase led the continued push in 2025 for workers to return to the office from at-home arrangements established during the Covid-19 pandemic.

But court rulings from the past year show federal judges remain increasingly receptive to remote work as a potential disability accommodation and leery of categorical in-person attendance rules.

Though the outcomes were mixed, the decisions since January reflect a continuing shift in analysis spurred by the flood of—and lessons from—Covid-related telework. Judges are reviewing remote-work bias claims more like other American with Disabilities ...