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Sid Steinberg Looks at Opioid Treatment and the American with Disabilities Act for The Legal Intelligencer

In the December 11, 2018 Legal Intelligencer article, "Hospital Successfully Defends Termination After Nurse Returns From Opioid Abuse Treatment," Sidney R. Steinberg examines employers' struggle with the legal obligations associated with drug use and distinguishing between current use and past addiction. 

Specifically, he looks at the E.D. Pa. decision in Suarez v. Pennsylvania Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Health System which addresses many of these issues in a timely way, as the employee struggled with opioid addiction. Mr. Steinberg notes in the article: 

"The lesson for employers is the clear efforts of the hospital to work with [the employee] to preserve her employment in the face of her limitations and her various attempts to remain employed. It is evident that the hospital sought to assist her nonbedside job search and only took action when such a search was unsuccessful. This is the optimal way for the ADA to work—attempting to preserve employment and, if that fails, putting the employer in the strongest defense position possible."

Click here for the full article.