Court: Unlimited leave is not reasonable

The story

Joe’s job required him to hold a commercial driver’s license. After a work-related car accident, Joe took leave for a couple of weeks, then returned to work on light-duty with a driving restriction.

About a month later, the employer changed its policy of allowing employees to attend occupational medical appointments while on the clock. When told this, Joe told Zeb, his supervisor, that he couldn’t attend his appointments after work because he was “done and completely exhausted” after his shifts.

In response, Zeb, the HR Director, and union representatives held a meeting with Joe to discuss whether Joe’s exhaustion presented a safety issue at work. They decided it did and prohibited Joe from driving at work until he could undergo an independent medical examination. In the meantime, Joe was to report to work and perform his other job functions.

The same day, Joe submitted a doctor’s note indicating that he was to be off work until he was re-evaluated. Based on the doctor’s note, the employer allowed Joe to take medical leave.

Over the next year or so, Joe extended his leave 13 times based on doctors’ notes. On November 8, 2021, the employer asked for a firm date when Joe thought he could return to work. On August 17, 2022, the employer sent Joe a letter saying that it wouldn’t extend his leave indefinitely and that it expected him to report to work on August 25, 2022, when his most recent doctor’s note expired.

But Joe didn’t return to work on that date, and instead submitted another doctor’s note asking for six more weeks of leave. The employer denied this extension and terminated him on September 1, 2022. Joe sued, claiming the employer violated the ADA when it didn’t extend his leave.

The ruling

The court found that, because Joe’s doctor never cleared him to return to work, he wasn’t qualified for the job and didn’t have a disability discrimination case. The ADA didn’t require the employer to give Joe two years of leave.

This ruling helps serve as a reminder that employers don’t have to allow unlimited leave or accept multiple leave extensions as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA. While there is no hardline number of extensions that might be reasonable, this court put that number at fewer than 13. Other courts could, however, rule differently.

Haack v. Lapeer County Road Commission and Zebadiah Schons, Eastern District of Michigan, No. 23-12273, August 19, 2025.

Key to remember: Employers don’t have to keep extending an employee’s leave as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA.