Disability Case Offers Cautionary Tale

Law Week Colorado quoted Denver Managing Partner Todd Fredrickson in an article entitled “Disability Case Offers Cautionary Tale” on March 18. The article focused on a recent case in which a federal jury penalized a Colorado business for the way that it treated a stocking clerk who suffered from disorienting seizures. The employee had an epileptic seizure at work and was sent home and told he could not return to work without a medical release, according to a complaint filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Even after providing multiple releases, however, the employee was not able to return to work as the company continued to ask for more documentation. “The company was right to request medical releases and ask for more information about [the employee’s] condition,” Todd said.  “The problem is that even when request after request revealed [he] could do his job and could handle his seizures, the company wouldn’t let him return [to work],” he said.