But who needs to demand online passwords, when, according to this report from Consumer Reports, your employees are sharing way more information on Facebook than they realize.
Some of the highlights from the report and a few related tips for employers follow after the jump...
Let's say you operate a business in NJ. Your disabled employee comes to you requesting an accommodation for his disability. Does the mere failure to provide that accommodation trigger a claim under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD)? What about under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?
I have two recent cases and two different answers -- depending on whether you are in state or federal court, plus some general accomodation tips for employers after the jump...
Back in December, I wrote here about a federal court in Louisiana recognizing that a morbidly-obese plaintiff may have a physical impairment which, if it substantially limits one or more major life activities, would bring that plaintiff within the scope of the ADA (the pre-ADAAA version).
As an update to that post, last week, the same Louisiana federal court granted summary judgment, in part, to the EEOC, who was asserting the claim on behalf of the employee. Specifically, the court ruled that the EEOC had affirmatively established that the employee, who was morbidly obese, had a "disability" within the meaning of the ADA.
What protections does the ADA provide to veterans with disabilities?
When is a veteran with a service-connected disability protected by the ADA?
May an employer ask if an applicant is a "disabled veteran" if it is seeking to hire someone with a disability?
So, how did you do? (I went 1-for-3...as if!)
If you're stumped or confused, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has your back. Earlier this week, the EEOC released this guide for employers, about protections for veterans with service-connected disabilities differ under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), and how employers can prevent disability-based discrimination and provide reasonable accommodations.
Hey, that blog title looks familiar. Oh yeah! I wrote about it here back in October.
This time around, another federal court, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, has reaffirmed that while a "leave of absence may be a reasonable accommodation [under the Americans with Disabilities Act]", the employee must provide a reasonable estimate of the amount work that will be missed. "Conversely, when the employee seeks leave, but it is uncertain if or when he will be able to return to work, a leave of absence is not a reasonable accommodation."
The case is Valdez v. McGill, a copy of which you can find here.
For more on reasonable accommodations under the ADA check out these posts:
Yesterday, Greece came through with a long-awaited economic reform deal. Congratulations to them.
What I want to know, however, is what the heck the Greek government was thinking when it recently expanded a list of state-recognized disability categories to include pedophiles, exhibitionists and kleptomaniacs. Bailout money back, please.
At Res Ipsa Loquitor, Jonathan Turley notes that the Greek government already recognizes pyromaniacs, compulsive gamblers, fetishists and sadomasochists as persons entitled to ask for government assistance.
To prove disability discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a plaintiff, at a minimum, must prove that:
she is disabled;
she is otherwise qualified to perform the job requirements, with or without reasonable accommodation; and
she was discharged (or otherwise suffered an adverse employment action) solely on account of her disability
After the jump, I have a recent federal court decision from Michigan which addresses the second prong above; specifically, whether and when working a minimum number of hours a week is an essential job function, such that if a disabled employee can't work those hours, she can be fired -- legally.
As the year draws to a close, let's take a look back at the most popular posts at The Employer Handbook in 2011, based on number of hits:
5. Social media and the workplace. School teacher Natalie Munroe made several appearances on the blog this year. Remember her? She was the blogging school teacher who wrote that her students were "utterly loathsome in all imaginable ways." Although, Ms. Munroe eventually returned to work, her experience is a sound reminder to always think twice before hitting "send." You can read the fifth-most-popular post, "Yes, you CAN discipline employees who abuse social media" here.
4. I'm a poet and I don't even know it. I'm not sure what inspired the fourth-most-popular post. It must have been a slow news day. How else do I come up with the idea to Haiku -- verbing a noun, sorry -- about recent employment-law decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court?
3. FMLA remains a hot issue.This one surprised me. The third-most-popular post is about FMLA legislation in Pennsylvania that never passed.
2. Short and sweet. The second-most-popular post was one of my shortest. I merely announced that the EEOC had finalized its ADAAA regulations. (Note to self: keep it short)
1. Yeah, I know, you only clicked "by accident." This was a runaway. Not even close. To put things in perspective, nearly 4% of all page views at The Employer Handbook were on this one story. Not to come off as too vain -- I'm sure I've done that already in my other stellar posts -- but nearly four times as many viewers checked out the number-one post than my blog biography. What else can I say? In the end, sex sells. (Note to self: keep it sexy).
Thank you to everyone who made The Employer Handbook such a success in its first year. We'll be back on January 3, 2012, the official one-year anniversary of the blog, with something short and sexy employment-law related. But possibly short and sexy.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits covered employers from discriminating against job applicants and employees on the basis of a disability. What is a disability, you ask? A disability is "a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities."
If your employee suffers from severe migraines that prohibit the employee from working, does the employee have a disability? Good question. It just depends on what "working" means. Click through and I have a good answer from a recent federal court decision...
There is no federal law that specifically prohibits obesity discrimination. But is the Americans with Disabilities Act broad enough to cover discrimination against the obese? Well, if you read my blog regularly -- Hi Dad! -- you know that a hyper-obese Homer Simpson is not disabled, but this 680-pound Texas may be. So, we need a tiebreaker! And, it just so happens that I have one, after the jump...
Back in June, I discussed here how the EEOC was discussing the use of leave from work as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA. The question I asked back then was how much leave is reasonable? When is enough, enough?
Well, I can tell you now -- and I suppose I could have told you then -- that indefinite leave is generally not an option for employees (unless the employer acquiesces). At least that's what one federal court ruled last week. Details after the jump...
In yesterday's post, we looked at whether a morbidly-obese employee is protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Today, let's apply yesterday's discussion to a "real-world" example. Is Homer Simpson disabled? And is the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant legally obligated to offer him a reasonable accommodation? The answers after the jump...
Maryland has a new law forbidding employers from demanding that job applicants and employees divulge online passwords. Two weeks ago, the federal government proposed similar legislation. And, last week, news surfaced that Delaware may be placing the same restrictions on employers.
Quick quiz: 
Yesterday, in 
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