"The National Grid gas company must pay a total of $3.1 million to two ex-workers with health issues for rejecting their requests to continue working from home after the pandemic, a Brooklyn jury has ruled. The utility firm, which has millions of customers in New York, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as state and city human-rights laws, by refusing to allow emergency-gas dispatchers Luciano Russo and George Messiha to continue their telework schedules to better manage their medical"
"National Grid allowed all of its dispatchers including Russo and Messiha to work from home during the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak that hit in March 2020. The remote workers were equipped with laptops and mobile phones. The workers' federal suit, filed in 2023, claimed their productivity increased while assigning crews to emergencies such as gas leaks. NG switched to a hybrid schedule in July 2021 after the pandemic subsided."
A Brooklyn jury ordered National Grid to pay $3.1 million to former emergency-gas dispatchers Luciano Russo and George Messiha after rejecting their telework accommodation requests. The jury found National Grid violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and New York state and city human-rights laws by refusing to allow continued remote work that helped manage their medical conditions. National Grid had allowed dispatchers to work from home with laptops and mobile phones during the COVID-19 peak and switched to a hybrid schedule in July 2021. The plaintiffs filed a federal suit in 2023 alleging increased productivity while assigning crews to emergencies, and National Grid denied their accommodation requests in June 2022. Both plaintiffs have documented back, hip, and related medical issues.
#telework-accommodations #americans-with-disabilities-act #workplace-disability-rights #national-grid
Read at New York Post
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