Court Continues Closing the ADA Window
May 20, 2002 -- The tiny window of recourse for people with disabilities who seek accommodations in the workplace got even tinier a few weeks ago. In its 5-4 decision April 29, made all the more complicated by a total of four different concurring and dissenting opinions, the Supreme Court ruled in U.S. Airways v. Barnett that while a seniority system does not always "trump" accommodation requests, it "will prevail in the run of cases." Except in "special" circumstances, the Court held, the Americans with Disabilities Act gives a worker with a disability no chance of obtaining an accommodation that would violate a seniority system.