My cold, black employment-law heart is numb to just about anything. I remember this one time, early in my career, when I had to depose a teenage female plaintiff and ask her, with her mother present in the room, whether it offended her that her alleged male sexual harasser wanted…
Hey there, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. This Americans with Disabilities Act failure-to-accomodate opinion right here. You had me at “Ortiz reported to work on April 5, 2010, carrying one empty and three full cans of ‘Mike’s Hard Lemonade’ (an alcoholic beverage), along…
A few months ago, I blogged about a California federal court decision, which recognized that Walgreens may have an obligation under the Americans with Disabilities Act to accommodate one of its cashiers who opened a $1.39 bag of chips (without having paid for it first) because she was suffering from…
And by coffee, I mean turkey legs and frozen blueberry-mango rum lemonade. Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down… You see that badge over there? You know what I had to do to get that badge?Buy the full version of Photoshop Spike the Kool-Aid of everyone on the SHRM Annual Conference Speaker…
So much for that case of Monday writer’s block… From a recent EEOC press release: According to the EEOC’s suit, Disability Network denied a deaf independent living specialist reasonable accommodations and then fired him. For example, the nonprofit refused the employee his requests for TTY equipment, a video phone and…
In two weeks, at the SHRM Annual Conference, I’ll be presenting “Meeting the Challenges That Leaves of Absence and Attendance Issues Present Under the FMLA and ADA.” The good news is that I have 75 minutes of HR greatness planned for my SHRM sesh. The bad news is that my…
If I could drink up your collective skepticism when it comes to these Americans with Disabilities Act cases… …I’d need my stomach pumped. Let’s see. There’s the one about the utilityman who couldn’t climb utility poles, but had an ADA claim against a utility company. And then who can forget…
I’m feeling rather charitable this evening as I punch out this post. Maybe it’s the proud feeling of crossing off my bucket list taking my four-year-old son to a Sunday early-bird at the biggest dive bar in South Jersey. (*Bonus points if you can guess the bar). Well, I’m not…
This is my son’s first year playing t-ball. The rules, in case you’re not familiar with them, are simple: Everybody hits Everybody (eventually) rounds the bases Everybody scores Some games, my son wants to lead off. Some games, he wants to hit last. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter where he hits.…
So, check this out. I read this case yesterday about an employee who provided her company with a November 12 doctor’s note, requesting that her hours be reduced due to her high-risk pregnancy. The employee would have become eligible for coverage under the Family and Medical Leave Act on November…