CRKL partner James Valentino and co-counsel Brian Heller of Schwartz Perry and Heller LLP recently secured a major ruling in a matter concerning how many work hours Wall Street firms can reasonably demand of a disabled employee.

In Shiber v. Centerview Partners, a federal court ruled that a junior investment banker can pursue her claims of disability discrimination and retaliation at trial against her former employer because there are genuine disputes of fact.

At issue is whether Centerview Partners violated federal, state and city disability laws when they terminated Kathryn Shiber, a newly hired junior analyst, following her disclosure of a disability requiring her to get consistent sleep. Centerview sought summary judgment, maintaining that junior analysts are often required to work through the night and the firm was within their rights to terminate any employee who could not meet that standard.

The court disagreed, pointing out that Centerview had no formal policy on work hours for junior analysts and ordered the dispute to be resolved at trial.

As Judge Ramos noted in his ruling, there is dispute of material fact as to whether the ability to “be available at all hours of the day and to work long, unpredictable hours is an essential function of the analyst role” and whether “Centerview retaliated against Shiber by firing her for requesting an accommodation.”

“We are grateful for Judge Ramos’ thoughtful opinion on this matter and look forward to presenting our client’s claims at trial.” Valentino said.

Read more in Bloomberg Law.