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Articles Posted in Disability

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86 the “100% cured” policy for employees returning from FMLA leave

My other car is a minivan Last Summer, I blogged here about how requiring an employee with a disability to stay out of work until 100% cured (i.e., a no-restrictions policy) automatically violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. As courts have described it, the policy does not allow a case-by-case assessment of an individual’s…

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A pay raise is not discriminatory and eye rolls don’t create a hostile work environment, mmkay?

Reading yesterday’s post about religious accommodations and Flying Spaghetti Monsters may have had you rolling your eyes like — who is that old guy? Tony Danza? Just kidding, I know my 80s TV. It’s Corbin Bernsen. Keeping with the topics of accommodations and eye rolling, I recently read this opinion about an…

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Medical Marijuana is coming to PA. What do employers need to know?

Pennsylvania is about to become the second Commonwealth in the United States to legalize medical marijuana. (23 states — la di da, states — plus DC currently allow it) Does this mean that employees with migraines can puff vape pens and eat Cheetos in your break rooms at work? Actually, I’m pretty…

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Permanent light duty is not an ADA accommodation. Unless you make it one.

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to provide a reasonable accommodation to an individual with a disability, if doing so will allow that person to perform the essential functions of the job. Temporary light duty? Yep, that’s a reasonable accommodation. But, what about permanent light duty? Last night, I was…

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Can an employer rescind a job offer based on the results of a genetic test?

A received a number of emails following yesterday’s blog post, “Can you refuse to hire a person whom you fear may have a future disability?” Most were nice. Although, I didn’t appreciate one reader’s virtual flaming bag of virtual dog poop left in my inbox. That person can go to virtual hell.…

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Can you refuse to hire a person whom you fear may have a future disability?

Over the next few days. you may read a bunch of headlines about yesterday’s Eighth Circuit decision in Morris v. BNSF Railway (opinion here), touting the court’s holding that obesity, by itself, is a not a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Specifically, the court concluded that “for obesity, even morbid…

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Yes, working overtime can be an essential job function under the ADA

Back in 2012, when I wasn’t part of this new protected class, I wrote here about whether an employer would violate the Americans with Disabilities Act by requiring an employee to work overtime. The takeaway from that post was, yes, if working a minimum number of hours each week is an essential job function,…