Employers in New York, Connecticut, and Vermont should take note of a recent Second Circuit decision holding that an employee may still be entitled to a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) even if they can perform the essential functions of their job without accommodation.

Jurate Schwartz
Jurate Schwartz is a senior counsel in the Labor & Employment Law Department. She devotes her practice to counseling clients in employment matters, as well as representing employers in federal and state litigations, arbitrations and administrative proceedings.
Jurate’s practice includes providing advice on compliance with various laws affecting the workplace, including the FMLA, ADEA, Title VII, ADA, FLSA and similar state and local laws. She counsels clients on developing, implementing and enforcing personnel policies and procedures and reviewing and revising multi-state employee handbooks under federal, state and local laws. Jurate also advises clients on policy and training issues, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage and hour, employee classification, accomodation of religious beliefs, pregnancy and disability, and leaves of absence, including vacation and paid time off policies, multi-state paid sick and safe leave laws and paid family and medical leave laws. Jurate is experienced in conducting wage-and-hour audits under federal and state wage-hour laws and advising clients on classification issues. She also assists clients in drafting employment, independent contractor, consulting and separation agreements as well as various restrictive covenants.
In addition to counseling, Jurate litigates employment disputes of all types, including claims of employment discrimination, harassment, retaliation, whistleblowing, breach of contract, employment-related torts and claims under federal and state wage-and-hour laws. Jurate also assists clients in matters involving trade secrets and non-competes, as well as nonsolicitation, nondisclosure agreements and other restrictive covenants.
Jurate has been ranked by Chambers USA in Florida since 2012. One client comments, "I am a client with extremely high expectations and Proskauer never ceases to exceed them. Jurate has a perfectionist personality and that fits well with how we operate."
Jurate’s pro bono work includes service on the HR committee of a not-for-profit organization, the YMCA of South Palm Beach County, Florida, and assisting other not-for-profit organizations with employment matters, as well as her successful representation of an unaccompanied immigrant child in an asylum proceeding referred by the National Center for Refugee & Immigrant Children.
Florida HR Considerations: Marijuana in the Workplace

Florida employers should take note of new developments regarding marijuana use.
First, a recent circuit court decision (which is now on appeal) held that the Florida Civil Rights Act (FCRA) requires employers to consider reasonable accommodations for off-duty medical marijuana use. In Giambrone v. Hillsborough County (Fla. 13th Cir. Ct. Dec. 10, 2024), the…
DOL: Employers Cannot Mandate PTO Use with State/Local Paid Leave Benefits During FMLA
The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”) has issued an opinion letter stating that employers cannot require employees to substitute accrued paid time off during a Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) leave where the employee is also receiving benefits under a state or local paid family or medical leave program.
The…
New York Releases Guidance on Paid Prenatal Leave Law Taking Effect January 1, 2025
The New York State Department of Labor (NYDOL) has issued informal guidance regarding the Paid Prenatal Leave benefit that will be available to New York employees beginning January 1, 2025. The guidance includes general information about the new benefit, as well as a Frequently Asked Questions page.
As we previously reported, the State’s 2025…