Catherwood LibraryILR School

The Supreme Court began hearings yesterday on the issue of whether the Americans with Disabilities Act supersedes non-discriminatory seniority systems. The central question, is whether the ADA clause requiring employers to be reasonably accommodating of disabled employees, means that employers must assign disabled employees to jobs which their disabilities do not conflict with---even if another worker is entitled to that position by virtue of seniority. While the lawyer for the employee in this case has argued that the ADA's "undue hardship" exception does not apply to seniority systems and the affects on other employees of overriding this system, many courts have held the opposite to be true.