<i>Williamson</i> “Waived” Goodbye: Georgia Court of Appeals Overturns Twenty-Two Years of Disability Law and Rejects Waiver of Sovereign Immunity for Federal Disability Claims

The Court of Appeals of Georgia upended twenty-two years of Georgia disability law by ruling that the enactment of the Fair Employment Practices Act (FEPA) did not waive the government’s Eleventh Amendment3 sovereign immunity to Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) claims. In Augusta Judicial Circuit Office of the Public Defender v. Hodge-Peets, a state employee brought an action against a state agency, asserting claims for discrimination, failure to accommodate and retaliation under the ADAAA. The state employee claimed that the State waived its sovereign immunity and thereby consented to suit by the enaction of FEPA. This stance was backed by Williamson v. Department of Human Resources, then-existing Georgia precedent.