Judge denies SHRM’s motion to end ADA lawsuit

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) case involving a former candidate’s request for a disability accommodation is moving closer to a courtroom—or a settlement conference.

A federal judge Thursday denied SHRM’s motion for summary judgment in Torres v. Society for Human Resource Management, finding there is a “genuine dispute of material fact” related to the disability discrimination and failure to accommodate claims by the plaintiff, Fiona Torres, under both the Americans with Disabilities Act and Virginia Human Rights Act.

The two-page order doesn’t settle any disputes or find that SHRM violated any law. Rather, US District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia Patricia Tolliver Giles, determined the factual disagreements were significant enough that they cannot be decided as a matter of law on summary judgment.

This week’s order leaves the claims in place for further court proceedings, including the possibility of a jury trial, previously scheduled to begin on Oct. 6. The judge in her order also encouraged the parties to contact the magistrate judge’s office to schedule a settlement conference.

At issue. The precise factual disputes that will ultimately go to a jury are still taking shape through the pretrial process. Judge Tolliver Giles’s order doesn’t offer insights into which facts of the case the parties disagree and comes after the plaintiff last month petitioned to include a SHRM position statement to the EEOC during the administrative phase of Torres’s initial complaint.

The dispute over the material facts could become key in any jury’s understanding of what Torres requested, how SHRM responded, what accommodations were considered or offered, and the circumstances surrounding the employment decision.

According to her civil complaint, Torres was offered a role as a senior specialist in 2024 and allegedly informed SHRM of her reasonable accommodation request to be accompanied at work by her trained medical alert service dog to manage her Type II Diabetes.

SHRM has disputed her allegations and argued, among other things, that the requested accommodation was not necessary and that the organization offered alternative measures to address her medical needs.

Separately, last December, SHRM lost a race discrimination and retaliation lawsuit brought on by a former employee in Colorado. The jury awarded the plaintiff $11.5 million in damages in that case.

SHRM, which bills itself as the voice of all things work, has weathered several HR-related controversies in recent years, including a scathing Business Insider report outlining its dress-code, strict attendance policy, and claims its CEO, Johnny Taylor, in a meeting referred to his employees as “entitled,” “complacent,” and “sloppy.” The org also faced pushback last summer for moving away from the polarized DE&I acronym, replacing it with ID (RIP, equity and ampersands), and inviting an anti-DEI, anti-LGBTQ+ activist, Robby Starbuck, to speak on the main stage of its inclusion conference, Blueprint, last October.