ADA Blockbuster: Connecticut Employees Who Can Perform Job's Essential Functions May Still Be Entitled to Reasonable Accommodation, Court Rules

Connecticut employees with disabilities may be entitled to reasonable accommodations under the ADA even when not necessary to the performance of their job. In a decision issued on March 25, 2025 in Tudor v. Whitehall Central School District, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals clarified the scope of protections available to employees under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Connecticut’s federal courts are bound by the decisions of the Second Circuit.

The case involved Angel Tudor, a New York high school teacher diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), who requested the accommodation of brief afternoon breaks to manage her condition. The school district denied her request during the 2019–2020 school year, prompting her to file a lawsuit alleging a failure to accommodate under the ADA.

The lower court dismissed her claim after Tudor acknowledged that she could perform her job’s essential functions without the requested breaks, albeit “under great duress and harm.”

In its opinion, the Second Circuit emphasized that the ADA requires reasonable accommodations to support employees’ well-being and workplace inclusion, not just those necessary for job performance. 

The opinion noted the fact that under the ADA a “qualified individual” is “an individual who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the employment position that such individual holds or desires.”

In other words, whether an employee can perform her job responsibilities without a reasonable accommodation does not mean the employee must. An employee may be a “qualified individual” entitled to reasonable accommodation under the ADA even if the employee can perform the essential functions of her job without one.

Based on the Second Circuit’s holding in this case, employers in Connecticut should consider reexamining their process for evaluating employee accommodations requests under the ADA. Employers cannot deny an employee an accommodation simply because an employee can perform the job without it. Instead, employers must still consider the overall reasonableness of the accommodation and whether it will cause undue hardship on the employer to provide the accommodation. 

New Form I-9 Released

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a new edition of the Form I-9 on April 3, 2025. The new I-9 contains minor changes in language and an updated privacy notice. It is dated January 20, 2025 and has an expiration date of May 31, 2027.

Employers may continue to use prior editions of the I-9 form until their respective expiration dates. Those versions include two editions with an issue date of 08/01/23 but different expiration dates. They are: 

• The 08/01/23 edition with an expiration date of 05/31/2027.

• The 08/01/23 edition with an expiration date of 07/31/2026. Employers using this edition in an electronic system must update their system with an edition of Form I-9 bearing a 05/31/2027 expiration by July 31, 2026.

The new Form I-9 is available on our website here.

In addition, beginning April 3, 2025, E-Verify and E-Verify+ will have slightly changed language under the Citizenship Status selection during case creation. The new language replaces “a noncitizen authorized to work” with “an alien authorized to work.” Depending on the form edition that is used, employees and employers may continue to see the prior text, “A noncitizen authorized to work,” in some E-Verify cases. 

Bills Advancing out of Committee in Connecticut General Assembly

The Connecticut General Assembly is just over the halfway point in this year’s legislative session. Bills that have not advanced out of committee are considered “dead” but can be resurrected by being amended to a different bill. There are a number of bills affecting Connecticut employers that have advanced out of committee. They include:

HB7196-This bill would void non-competes for workers/independent contractors whose:

• Hourly wage is less than 3 times the minimum wage; or

• Where the non-compete includes geographic areas where the worker did not provide service or did not have a material presence during the two years prior to separation; or

• Where the non-compete covers type of work employee did not perform.

 If signed into law, the bill would become effective July 1, 2025.

HB6517-This would require employers to disclose salary ranges on public and internal job postings. It would also require employers to provide applicants with a general description of benefits offered for the position. 

Connecticut currently only requires employers to disclose salary ranges to applicants and employees when an offer of employment is made to an applicant or where an employee asks. 

If passed, the law would be effective October 1, 2025.

SB1035-This bill would prohibit employers from refusing to hire, discharging, or discriminating against employees/independent contractors on the basis of their having disclosed conduct they “reasonably believe” to be a discriminatory employment practice. It also voids non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements relating to conduct the employee or independent contractor believes to be a discriminatory employment practice. 

The bill would be effective October 1, 2025.

SB830-This bill imposes heat safety standards for indoor and outdoor work. OSHA had issued a final rule that would have imposed heat safety standards for indoor and outdoor work nationwide. The Trump Administration placed a pause on implementing pending final administrative rules. It is considered unlikely that OSHA's rule will be implemented. SB830 is Connecticut’s version of OSHA’s heat standard. Under SB830:

• Employers who employ people in positions where a majority of the work is done in an outdoor setting, such as in the agricultural, construction, or landscaping industries must: (1) supply employees with a certain amount of free drinking water, (2) give employees reasonable breaks in shaded areas, (3) implement heat-related emergency response procedures that meet certain criteria, and (4) implement certain acclimatization practices for certain new hires and employees who have not recently worked in these conditions.

• The bill also adds additional requirements when outdoor temperatures exceed 80 and 90 degrees.

• The bill sets similar requirements for employers that have an indoor work area that does not have effective or functioning air conditioning.

• When the outdoor temperature exceeds 80 degrees, the bill requires these employers to measure and record the temperature at the work area and if it reaches at least 82 degrees, implement similar measures for cool-down areas, drinking water, and employee breaks. It also requires additional measures if indoor temperatures exceed 87 degrees or employees must wear certain types of clothing.

• The bill also requires employers to train their employees on certain heat-related topics, such as risk factors for heat illness, the employer's heat-related procedures required by the bill, and the importance of drinking a certain amount of water. It requires related training for the employer’s supervising employees. 

If passed, the bill would be effective October 1, 2025. 

HB6904- This would allow striking workers to collect unemployment after 14 continuous days on strike.

It would be effective for strikes on or after December 14, 2026.

SB1312-This bill would reduce the amount of time employers can appeal unemployment compensation overcharges from 60 to 40 days of the date the quarterly statement is provided to employer. 

It would be effective October 1, 2025.

SB1030-This bill would require an employer to provide a reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk each time the employee has need to express milk. Current Connecticut law requires employers to allow employees to express milk/breastfeed during meal periods only. 

If passed, this bill would be effective October 1, 2025.

HB6907, SB8, and SB6907-These bills are duplicates of each other and would impose requirements on warehouse distribution centers that have employee production quotas. They would:

• Require employers to notify employees of quota changes and provide a written description of quota changes no later than 2 days after the changes are made.

• Prohibit quotas that interfere with meal break laws, use of the bathroom, or are measured over an increment of less than one day or set a performance standard based on ranking in relation to other employees.

• Require employers to maintain records on (1) each individual employee's work speed data, (2) the aggregated work speed data for similar employees at the same warehouse distribution center, and (3) the written descriptions provided to each employee.

• Require records be maintained for a period of three years.

If passed, the effective date would be July 1, 2026.

HB8676- This bill would create a homebuyer savings account and give employers a tax credit for contributing to it. The bill would take effect on January 1, 2026 and would allow:

• Individuals to contribute $2,500 annually for single filers and $5,000 annually for joint filers with adjusted gross incomes below $100,000 and $200,000 respectively.

• Employers who contribute to claim up to 10% tax credit for up to $2,500 per employee.