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…
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.…
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…
Last week, five players on the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team filed a Charge of Discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the U.S. Soccer Federation. The women claim that they paid up to four times less than their male counterparts for doing basically the same job. A reader of this…
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,…
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…
If national origin motivates an employment decision, that’s disparate treatment. Title VII forbids disparate treatment. So, what if… nepotism motivates an employment decision, which involves favoring one nationality over another, then does national origin motivate the employment decision? Or, put another way: could nepotism violate Title VII? No, nepotism does not…
Because, I’m pretty sure that I’ll get my employment-lawyer-blogger card revoked if I don’t offer a self-deprecating blog post about age discrimination on my 40th birthday. But, feel free to raise my spirits by pledging a pair of tickets to the Philly stop of the Guns N’ Roses reunion tour. Oh, God!…
An even worse idea, my friends, is admitting that you still drink Zima filed a defamation lawsuit in response to an employee’s complaint to the EEOC. A national origin claim becomes a retaliation lawsuit. Late last week, Kurt Orzeck, writing at Law360, reported here about a lawsuit that the EEOC initiated in California federal…
What would happen if you punched your boss in the face? Wait! Don’t answer that. Ok, allow me. You’d get fired. But, what if, after you get fired, your boss calls you an awful racist/religious/sexist/”you name it” slur? Could it be reasonably inferred retroactively that bias motivated your firing? According to this recent…