Building the ADA Accommodation Record: From the Interactive Process to Summary Judgment

Amy Epstein Gluck, Partner and Chair | Pierson Ferdinand LLP

Amy Epstein Gluck advises employers where disability law meets day-to-day workforce management, guiding them through the interactive process and reasonable accommodations for individuals with physical and mental disabilities. She trains supervisors to recognize and respond to accommodation requests under the ADA, the FMLA, and state and local law. A partner at Pierson Ferdinand LLP, she chairs the firm’s Employment, Labor, and Benefits Department and serves as its Firm Employment Counsel. She works from Washington, D.C., New York, and Northern Virginia.

• Education & Credentials

Ms. Epstein Gluck earned her J.D. from the George Washington National Law Center and her B.A. in English from Tufts University. She is admitted in New York, the District of Columbia, and Virginia, and before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fourth and Federal Circuits, the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern District of Virginia and the District of Maryland, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. She is also a Registered Foreign Lawyer in England and Wales and speaks Spanish.

• Recognition & Leadership

She is recognized in The Best Lawyers in America for Litigation – Labor and Employment (2023, 2025, and 2026 editions) and in Best Lawyers in D.C. in the same category (2022–2023 and 2025–2026). Since May 2022 she has served on the Advisory Board of The Bowman Foundation for Workplace Equity and Mental Wellness, and she co-created her firm’s Wellness Program. She also serves on the Advisory Board of the Nerdy Girl Success nonprofit, is a founding member of Chief and the Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law in Washington, D.C. and previously served on the Board of Directors of Charles E. Smith Life Communities. She was a Spring 2017 nominee for the Women of Influence Award from bestlawyers.com.

• Professional Involvement

Ms. Epstein Gluck joined the EEOC for “Unlocking Access: Master Class on Navigating the ADA” in April 2024 and presented on EEO law and HR practice at the EEOC Training Institute in Baltimore in 2019. She has spoken on mental health and addiction issues in the workplace, on remote work at the 2021 NYC SHRM Legislative and Legal Conference, and on workplace discrimination, harassment, and DEI before SHRM chapters, the Federal Bar Association for the Eastern District of Washington, and national HR audiences. She discussed “Disability Discrimination in Employment from the Employee’s and Employer’s Side” on Women’s Media Center Live with Robin Morgan. Her commentary has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Law, Law360, the ABA Journal, and SHRM. She is a member of the American Bar Association.

• Experience

Her practice covers counseling, compliance, and the defense of claims involving discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination under Title VII, the ADA, the FMLA, the FLSA, and the ADEA. She conducts workplace misconduct investigations, represents employers before the EEOC, and advises on hybrid and remote work, multi-state compliance, wage and hour audits, misclassification, and noncompete, nonsolicitation, nondisclosure, and severance agreements. She also leads DEI audits and policy development and delivers management and anti-harassment training. Her prior firm experience includes FisherBroyles, LLP; Roetzel & Andress; and Hall, Estill, Hardwick, Gable, Golden & Nelson, P.C.

David Renner, Partner | Pierson Ferdinand LLP

David Renner counsels employers on FMLA leave management and ADA accommodations and defends them in discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims, from administrative charges and EEOC enforcement actions through litigation. A partner in the Employment, Labor, and Benefits practice at Pierson Ferdinand LLP, he advises on disciplinary and termination decisions and guides clients through harassment investigations. He holds the Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) certification from the HR Certification Institute.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Renner earned his J.D., summa cum laude, from Duquesne University School of Law in 2011 and his B.S. in Business Administration, summa cum laude, from the University of Pittsburgh College of Business Administration in 2008. He is a member of the Order of the Barristers. He is admitted in Pennsylvania and before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, and Fourth Circuits, and the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Pennsylvania, the Northern District of Ohio, the Western District of Michigan, and the Eastern District of Missouri.

• Recognition & Leadership

He is listed in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America for Labor and Employment Law (2026) and was named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Rising Star in Employment and Labor every year from 2016 through 2024. Within the Defense Research Institute (DRI), he serves as Membership Vice-Chair and Program Chair of the Employment and Labor Law Committee. He co-founded the Tri-Rivers Heritage Foundation, which has raised more than $225,000 for nonprofits serving children in the Pittsburgh metro area.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Renner is a frequent CLE presenter on accommodation, leave, and documentation. His programs include “ADA – From Accommodation to Discrimination” (2019), “Handling FMLA and ADA-Related Leave” (2021), “Handling Employee Discrimination and Harassment Claims Under Title VII, the ADA, and the ADEA” (2018), and “Discipline and Discharge – Necessary Documentation” (2019, 2020, and 2022), along with recurring sessions on FMLA leave, intermittent leave, and termination. He has also presented at DRI’s 2020 Employment and Labor Law Virtual Seminar and before the Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association. He has written for The Legal Intelligencer and is a member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA).

• Experience

His litigation practice spans EEOC and state enforcement actions, administrative charges of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, whistleblower and retaliation lawsuits, employment class actions, FLSA collective actions, and trade secret and restrictive covenant disputes. On the counseling side, he advises on ADA accommodations and public accommodations under the ADA, FMLA leave management, Rehabilitation Act, Executive Order 11246, and VEVRAA compliance, OFCCP audits, EEO and HR policy development, WARN Act planning, and supervisor training. His prior firm experience includes FisherBroyles, LLP; Jackson Lewis P.C.; Leech Tishman Fuscaldo & Lampl LLC; and Post & Schell, P.C., and he previously worked in corporate roles at National City Bank and PNC Bank.

Alok Nadig, Partner and Co-Chair | Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, LLP

Alok Nadig represents employees, individually and as classes, in discrimination, harassment, and retaliation matters, and he writes on how the ADA protects workers with mental health conditions. He is a Partner and Co-Chair of the Discrimination and Harassment Practice Group at Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, LLP, where he also works in the firm’s Public Interest Litigation Practice Group from its New York office.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Nadig earned his J.D., cum laude, from New York University School of Law, where he was an Articles Editor of the New York University Law Review, a Robert McKay Scholar, and Co-Chair of the OUTLaw LGBTQ Students’ Association, and where he participated in the Racial Equity Strategies Clinic with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the LGBT Rights Clinic with Lambda Legal. He holds a B.A., magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and a B.M., magna cum laude, from Northwestern University. He clerked for the Honorable Carlos F. Lucero of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and the Honorable Pamela K. Chen of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. He was admitted in New York in 2017 and is admitted before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the Western District of Texas.

• Recognition & Leadership

He is listed in the Lawdragon 500 Leading Civil Rights and Plaintiff Employment Lawyers (2026) and in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch for Labor and Employment Law and Litigation (2024 through 2027). He has been named a New York Super Lawyers Rising Star (2023 through 2026), one of The National Trial Lawyers’ Top 40 Under 40 Civil Plaintiff Trial Lawyers in New York (2023 through 2026), and a National LGBTQ+ Bar Association Lawyers Under 40 selectee (2025).

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Nadig’s writing on disability law includes “Navigating Employee Anxiety and Depression Under the ADA,” Law360 Employment Authority (2021), and “Ably Queer: The ADA as a Tool in LGBT Antidiscrimination Law,” New York University Law Review (2016), as well as firm commentary on ADA protections for employees with ADHD. He has also written on Title VII in “Chambers v. District of Columbia and the Future of Title VII,” Saint Louis University Journal Online (2021), and has published commentary in Law360 and the Washington Blade. He is a member of the New York City Bar Association and the South Asian Bar Association of New York.

• Experience

His clients have included an African American director of diversity, equity, and inclusion who faced discrimination and retaliation, a former female president and general manager who was underpaid and terminated because of her gender, a finance executive terminated after objecting to hazardous and illegal conduct, women working on oil rigs with gender discrimination and sexual harassment claims, and thousands of healthcare facility employees with claims under the California Labor Code. Before joining Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, he was a litigation associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.

SESSION 1 – Documenting the Interactive Process While the Accommodation Request Is Open |  12:00pm – 1:00pm

This session covers how to build a contemporaneous record while an ADA accommodation request is still open, from the first request, however informal, through the ongoing interactive process. Attorneys will learn to spot when employer obligations begin, handle medical documentation requests properly, and continue performance management without creating retaliation risk. Attendees leave with a practical framework for documenting each stage in a way that supports summary judgment later.

BREAK | 1:00pm – 1:10pm

SESSION 2 – Turning the Accommodation File into a Summary Judgment Record  | 1:10pm – 2:10pm

This session shows defense counsel how to turn the accommodation file into a summary judgment record, using 2024 and 2025 decisions that define what courts now expect. Attorneys will learn how to respond to the Second Circuit’s Tudor decision, rely on an employee’s refusal to engage under the Fourth Circuit’s Tarquinio decision, and address remote-work evidence before it defeats an essential-functions argument. Attendees leave with a checklist for auditing the file, closing evidentiary gaps, and planning depositions around circuit-specific law.