Technology company prevails on cancer discrimination claim

Client(s) International technology company

On December 29, 2016, Jones Day obtained an Arbitration Award in favor of an international technology company, completely rejecting a former employee's claim that she was laid off because she had cancer. The claimant, a former member of the technology company's finance department, brought claims for disability discrimination, failure to accommodate, and failure to engage in the interactive process. Jones Day successfully earned dismissal of claims for failure to accommodate and failure to engage in the interactive process on summary adjudication. Claimant presented her remaining claim for disability discrimination over the course of a six-day arbitration hearing in which eight witnesses testified. At the conclusion of her case, claimant requested damages in excess of $9,100,000. The arbitrator rejected this claim, and issued an Award in favor of the technology company.