After the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas granted judgment in favor of the plaintiff and against a retailer employer, Dowd Bennett lawyers handled the employer’s appeal and prevailed.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed the district court’s decision in a major Americans with Disabilities Act case.  The Eighth Circuit’s decision concluded that the ADA is not an affirmative action statute and does not require an employer to reassign a qualified disabled employee to a vacant position when such a reassignment would violate a legitimate nondiscriminatory policy of the employer to hire the most qualified candidate.  As a result, the Court of Appeals found that Dowd Bennett’s retailer client did not violate any duty under the ADA to provide a reasonable accommodation to its disabled employee.

View Eighth Circuit Opinion and District Court Judgment on Remand:

July 26, 2007 Eighth Circuit Opinion 486 F.3d 480 (PDF)
August 1, 2007 District Court Judgment on Remand (PDF)