In today’s News & Commentary, Equity and the Broadway League resume talks amid a looming strike; a federal judge lets a recovering alcoholic’s ADA suit proceed; and Philadelphia agrees to pay $40,000 to resolve a First Amendment retaliation case.

This week, the Actors’ Equity Association—Broadway’s union for performers and stage managers—resumes negotiations with Broadway League, which represents producers and theater owners, in an effort to avert a strike after more than a week without a contract. According to the union, health-care funding is the central concern: Equity claims that producer contributions to the health care fund have remained flat at about $150 per person per week for the last decade, and the union warns the health fund may be running a deficit as early as this May. A strike would shutter about 26 productions, as well as the incoming Purple Rain musical. The talks follow a record $1.89 billion Broadway season, even as many post-pandemic musicals still struggle to turn a profit.

Meanwhile, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Kentucky allowed a plaintiff’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) claims to proceed against her former employer, including allegations that the employer failed to reasonably accommodate her alcohol addiction. The plaintiff, Traci Depew Hughes, alleged that she had been sober for 19 years when Certified Flooring Inc. (CFI) began hosting wine-and-cheese events and later announced an office move to a building near a liquor store. Hughes alleges that CFI denied her subsequent request for remote work as well as her request for a modified schedule to avoid the office while the liquor store was open, despite letters from her health-care provider in support of the proposed accommodations. Although Kentucky’s disability law expressly excludes alcoholism, Judge David L. Bunning held that Hughes plausibly alleged she was disabled under the ADA and thus qualified for the federal law’s protections. He noted that the plaintiff’s remission status did not change the ADA analysis: under the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA), an impairment in remission is a disability if it would substantially limit a major life activity when active. Thus, even though her alcoholism was in remission, she could still fall within the statute’s protections.

Finally, the City of Philadelphia will pay a former employee $40,000 to resolve a First Amendment retaliation suit. Ian L. Ewing alleged he was terminated from his job at the  Office of the Register of Wills after the current register of wills, John B. Sabatina, took office in January 2024 because Ewing didn’t support Sabatina’s 2023 campaign. He also claimed the office has a practice of politically motivated hiring and firing. Earlier this week, the court entered judgment in favor of Ewing, ordering the $40,000 payment for damages, attorneys’ fees, costs, and interest