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…
Articles Posted in Disability
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…
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…
The last word is often key to ADA accommodations
That’s why I kick so much butt with Americans with Disabilities Act accommodations. As a lawyer, I always have to have the last word. LOL! (Or say stuff like, “It depends.”) The ADA duty to accommodate. The ADA requires an employer to provide a reasonable accommodation to an employee, if doing…
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…
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.…
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…
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,…
Welcome to the intersection of ADA and FMLA
Kinda like Welcome to the Jungle, except with a lot less GnR. Or maybe like the famous intersection of Hollywood and Vine, except, not famous and all. And, let’s face it, the only sightseeing at FMLA/ADA is done by dorks like us. Who wants to pose with me for a selfie? Well, I…
HR 101: Temporary disabilities and the ADA
A temporary disability isn’t an Americans with Disabilities Act “disability;” except, when it is. In Clark v. Boyd Tunica, Inc. (opinion here), the plaintiff suffered a fractured ankle on the job. Her employer had a policy that employees were subject to drug tests following an on-the-job injury or illness requiring medical…