An employer who informally accommodated a paraplegic employee’s disability-related tardiness for 15 years, then terminated him pursuant to its new, no-fault punctuality policy may have violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Eleventh Circuit rules in sending the issue back to a lower court.

The Court questioned whether the strict punctuality policy, under which employees were charged with a tardy for clocking in even one second after the shift start time, was an “essential function” of the charging employee’s position. Up till the new policy was instituted, the employee’s supervisors had accommodated his occasional tardiness, and testified that his job was not as time sensitive as other areas in the company. Although the company had argued that the employee’s tardiness can slow product assembly, the Court noted that there was no evidence showing that the company actually incurred increased overhead: “Indeed, it is particularly difficult to imagine an actual increase in overhead costs due to [his] tardiness since the vast majority of time he was late by only one minute, and the accommodation he was permitted for some fifteen years, and which he seeks again now, involves his making up any lost time the same business day.” Holly v. Clairson Industries, LLC.