Reminder To Employers: Even Temporary Impairments Can Be A Disability Under The Law

Last week’s decision by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, Morgan v. Allison Crane & Rigging LLC, stands as a reminder to employers to exercise caution in how they navigate accommodating employees with temporary medical conditions.

After being diagnosed with a herniated disc, the plaintiff’s chiropractor recommended that his employer allow him to work light-duty for 30 days, which the company originally approved. But the company then fired the plaintiff after he declined to take a truck driving assignment on the basis that taking that assignment would have inflamed his back injury. The District Court rejected the plaintiff’s claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), finding his back pain was not a “disability” under the ADA because it was temporary and non-chronic impairment.

Reversing and remanding to the trial court for further proceedings, the Third Circuit unanimously held on September 4, 2024 that the trial court applied an incorrect legal test that Congress had expressly rejected in its 2008 amendments to the ADA. After Congress’s 2008 amendments, “[t]he temporary nature of an injury is not dispositive. . . . Rather, the analysis of Morgan’s general back pain under the ADA must focus on whether his injury ‘substantially limit[ed]’ his ability ‘to perform a major life activity as compared to most people in the general population.’”

The Third Circuit’s decision is a stark reminder to employers to carefully evaluate whether an employee’s temporary injury meets the test for disability under the ADA or state or local law.

For more questions about the Morgan decision, the ADA, or reasonable accommodations, please contact Partner Lawrence Bluestone, Esq. who specializes in, among other areas, Employment Law & Litigation via email here or call 973.533.0777.