Justices Take Former Employee Fight For Disability Bias Shield

The US Supreme Court agreed to look at whether a person with disabilities can sue their former employer for discrimination in post-employment benefits.

In an order Monday, the justices said they will hear Karyn Stanley’s bid to sue the City of Sanford, Florida, for allegedly discriminating against disabled retirees by limiting when they’re eligible for a health insurance subsidy.

The trial court said former employees like Stanley don’t have have the required injury, or standing, to sue under the Americans with Disabilities Act because they’re no longer “qualified individuals,” who are protected from being discriminated against in the terms, conditions, and privileges of their employment under the law. The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed that ruling.

Stanley was forced to take disability retirement at 47 after her Parkinson’s disease progressed to a stage that made it impossible for her to continue working as a city firefighter. She urged the justices to hear her appeal and settle a question she said has deeply divided the circuit courts: whether the ADA’s anti-discrimination protections extend to former disabled employees seeking post-employment benefits.

In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in employment based on race, sex, color, religion and national origin, extends to former employees. The ADA is a sibling statute and its enforcement provisions should be read in parallel, Stanley said.

The case is Stanley v. City of Sanford, Florida, U.S., No. 23-997.