Image Credit: Pexels.com Bet you weren’t expecting that, were you? No, peacocks can’t fly…commercial. Several news outlets are reporting that a major US airline refused to allow an emotional-support animal to board a plane at Newark Airport this weekend with its human companion. Daniella Silva’s quip from her report on…
Image Credit: Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trileptal_tablets.jpg) CC BY-SA 3.0, Link One of your potential hires just completed a five-panel drug test as a condition of employment, and he tested positive for opioids. What do you do? Did your company violate the law by using a drug screen that detects opioids? No. It didn’t.…
Image Credit: danielle_blue on Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/82705783@N00/101958911) CC BY-SA 2.0, Link Okayyyyyy! Oh, hold up. Not that Holy Grail. Back in September, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals gift-wrapped an FMLA opinion for local employers. I blogged about it here. In Severson v. Heartland Woodcraft, Inc. (here), the Seventh Circuit held that “a multimonth…
Image Credit: photofunia.com Here’s a reminder from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for employers to think twice about setting a deadline on an employee’s accommodation request. For example, last week the EEOC announced that it had settled a religious accommodation lawsuit against a North Carolina hospital. According to the…
Image Credit: Photofunia.com Most discrimination lawsuits involve a single, individual plaintiff and, on the other side of the “v,” a company as the sole defendant. But, sometimes, that plaintiff will name additional individual defendants too, such as a manager, supervisor, or even someone from Human Resources. When that happens, what…
Image Credit: Photofunia.com For Amber Bridges, a former City of Indianapolis employee, it allegedly got her fired. But, that didn’t stop her from filing an Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Spraying air fresheners around a co-worker with body odor seems a bit passive-aggressive.” “What…
Image Credit: Photofunia.com The title of this blog post is somewhat misleading. Yes, this post combines cars and employment law. But, more than anything, it was just an excuse to use this cool image, play The Cars – a song called “Drive,” no less – and say, “Dude, where’s my…
For those of you who work in HR, what do you do when you learn that an employee has filed a charge of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act? Raise your hand if the answer is not publicizing details of…
A few years ago, one of my colleagues emailed me and asked if I would review a particular question on a client’s job application. Specifically, the client wanted to know whether a certain health-related inquiry was something the client could do before extending a conditional offer of employment. Well, not…
No, it won’t violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. One of your employees is displaying erratic behavior at work. While you’re no medical expert, you feel as if the employee may become a threat to herself or others, if she isn’t already. So you place the employee on leave and require…