{"id":5771,"date":"2025-06-30T12:54:17","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T16:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/?p=5771"},"modified":"2025-06-30T12:54:17","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T16:54:17","slug":"supreme-court-rules-ada-does-not-protect-retirees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/insights\/supreme-court-rules-ada-does-not-protect-retirees.html","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Rules ADA Does Not Protect Retirees"},"content":{"rendered":"

On June 20, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Stanley v. City of Sanford<\/em> that retirees are not \u201cqualified individuals\u201d under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and therefore cannot bring employment discrimination claims based on events that occurred after<\/u> they retire. Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch explained that ADA protections under Title I apply only to individuals who currently<\/u> hold a job or are seeking<\/u> employment. Thus, once an individual has fully retired and is no longer in the workforce, they fall outside the scope of the statute.<\/p>\n

The facts in Stanley<\/em> were fairly straightforward. The plaintiff, a retired firefighter, sued the City of Sanford, Florida, alleging that its policy of providing only 24 months of health insurance coverage to those who took early retirement due to disability \u2013 while offering lifetime coverage to those who retired at the standard age of 65 \u2013 was discriminatory. The policy had been in place since 2003, but the firefighter challenged it only after retiring due to her disability.<\/p>\n

The Court rejected her claim, emphasizing that the ADA protects people<\/em>, not benefits<\/em>, and that Congress intended to reserve Title I claims only to current employees or job applicants that could plead and prove they could perform the essential functions of their current or sought-after job with or without accommodation. Importantly, the Court noted that had the plaintiff brought her claim while still employed or during the period between her diagnosis and her retirement \u2013 when she still could have been considered a \u201cqualified individual\u201d \u2013 her claim might have been viable.<\/p>\n

Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On June 20, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Stanley v. City of Sanford that retirees are not \u201cqualified individuals\u201d under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and therefore cannot bring employment discrimination claims based on events that occurred after they retire. Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch explained that ADA protections under […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[463,467,65,442,247],"tags":[],"coauthors":[465,441],"class_list":["post-5771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gozde-celik","category-celik","category-insights","category-weiner","category-labor-employment-insights"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSupreme Court Rules ADA Does Not Protect Retirees — June 30, 2025 — Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C. Firm News & Events<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On June 20, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Stanley v. City of Sanford that retirees are not \u201cqualified individuals\u201d under the Americans with\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/insights\/supreme-court-rules-ada-does-not-protect-retirees.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Supreme Court Rules ADA Does Not Protect Retirees — June 30, 2025 — Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C. Firm News & Events\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On June 20, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Stanley v. 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