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Articles Posted in Disability

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“Smokers and other nicotine users need not apply.” Is that even legal?

By Augustus Binu, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link Because I’m a lawyer, I’ll say it depends. Except, I won’t charge you 0.1 hours of my time to say it. Instead, I encourage you to go to SHRM’s website and read this article from Roy Maurer. Roy addresses a decision by the…

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ADA accommodations don’t require eliminating essential job functions, like coming to work punctually.

Image Credit: https://freesvg.org/1550658029 (Public Domain) Regular, in-person attendance is generally critical to performing one’s job. So, when an employee exhausts her twelve weeks of leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act only to miss another 33 days of work (resulting in a 59% absentee rate), one’s job security may…

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Can a demotion be a reasonable accommodation under the ADA?

Downturn Direction Banks Trend Down Symbol Arrow (Maxpixel.net: License to use Creative Commons Zero – CC0) In the context of an employment discrimination lawsuit, when I think about a demotion, I’m also thinking of retaliation. The plaintiff with a disability was also thinking the same thing in this recent federal court…

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Courts don’t second-guess non-discriminatory business decisions. Even the tough ones.

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay There are times when employers have to make difficult decisions impacting the workplace. Today, I’m going to talk to you about one of them involving an employee who attempted suicide and, subsequently, pressed the company to return him to work. The plaintiff in this…

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You’re worried that an obese applicant may later develop diabetes. Can you refuse to hire him?

Renée Gordon (FDA), Victovoi [Public domain], via Wikimedia CommonsLast night, I read this recent Seventh Circuit opinion about a man who applied for a job with a railroad. The job required some fairly physical work; namely, climbing and working on and around heavy equipment. The company’s policy was not to…

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No, a late request for a workplace accommodation doesn’t excuse prior performance issues

Image Credit: Photofunia.com (https://photofunia.com/results/5d92b3c0089f7a3a938b457d) Often, when I present at HR events on reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, I’m asked about how to deal with disciplining employees who wait until after the performance issues arise and the progressive discipline follows to request an accommodation. Specifically, do you have…

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Four mistakes that you and your managers make when firing employees

sailko [Public domain], via Wikimedia CommonsWell, maybe not you and yours. But, read on just in case. Over the weekend, I read this federal court opinion involving a woman’s claims that her former employer violated both the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of…

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Get your damn story straight if you’re going to fire someone who just returned from medical leave.

Image by DigitalShards from Pixabay I’ve talked a fair amount recently about retaliation claims (here and here), mostly focusing on timing as the possible link between a protected activity (such as a complaint of discrimination) and an adverse employment action (like a firing). The plaintiffs in those cases were unsuccessful…