Today the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a lawsuit against FedEx Express for allegedly failing to accommodate disabled employees’ requests to continue working from home. This lawsuit highlights a critical issue as many employers reconsider their remote work policies, often limiting telework options for employees.

The case involves several disabled dispatchers at FedEx, one of whom had a long, 30-year career with the company. This employee, along with others, had been working remotely for nearly three years during the pandemic, from April 2020 to February 2023. When the company insisted on bringing all employees back to the office. The disabled employees—some with mobility impairments that made it difficult to commute—requested to continue teleworking as an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

FedEx allegedly denied these requests, citing operational needs. The EEOC contends that such actions violated the ADA, which mandates that employers provide reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities unless it would cause undue hardship. The agency also emphasizes that, as demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work can be a viable and effective accommodation for employees who cannot perform their jobs on-site due to a disability.

While this case is only in the litigation phase now, it serves as a reminder for employers to carefully consider accommodation requests and evaluate the potential for remote work as a reasonable option, especially as many are scaling back or eliminating telework policies. The outcome of this case could set an important precedent for future disability accommodation disputes in a post-pandemic workforce.