⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The First Circuit hears Audrey McCarthy versus the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families. McCarthy worked as an administrative manager for the department. In 2021, she asked for a medical exemption from the employee COVID vaccination requirement, citing a heart condition. The department's letter acknowledged a medical contraindication, a reason a treatment may be unsuitable, but denied the exemption, citing workplace safety and operational concerns. She brought a disability-discrimination case under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. The district judge ruled for the department without a trial. The court found that the evidence did not establish a workable accommodation or adequately connect the requested exemption to her asserted disability. McCarthy contends that her own medical record and job duties called for an individual assessment. A qualified individual is someone able to perform a job's essential duties with or without a reasonable accommodation: a workplace adjustment that helps a person with a disability do the job. The argument also concerns direct threat: a significant safety risk that reasonable accommodation cannot eliminate or reduce. Listen for the difference between a policy's general justification and the evidence about this employee, this job, and the requested exception.

McCarthy v. Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (No. 25-1508) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, argued November 3, 2026.