HR Management & Compliance

ADA Class-Action Certification Denied for Wendy’s Employees

Employees are having a particularly difficult time bringing class action suits that invoke the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to experts, and a recent case involving Wendy’s employees is no exception.

The nature of ADA — particularly its individualized analysis requirements — makes class actions alleging disability discrimination less likely to succeed than those alleging other kinds of discrimination such as Title VII claims, says Lynn Kappelman, a partner in Seyfarth Shaw’s Boston office.

“You can’t certify a class if all the members don’t have common, typical facts,” she said.

In the most recent example, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania decided that a group of Wendy’s employees cannot continue with their ADA suit claiming they were denied reasonable accommodations. The court said it would have to determine whether each employee met the law’s “qualified individual” requirement, making it impossible to consider them as a class.

This type of assessment is “too individualized and divergent … to warrant certification,” the court concluded, quoting Wendy’s arguments. (Patricia Semenko v. Wendy’s International, Inc., No. 2:12–cv–0836, 2013 WL 1568407 (W.D. Pa. April 12, 2013))

While in some ways good for employers, the decision doesn’t necessarily mean employers can rest easy; it is limited to one jurisdiction, and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission can initiate class actions with less stringent criteria.

For details on the case and what the ruling means for employers, see the full story.

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