Yesterday, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued its “Final Regulation on Disparate Impact and Reasonable Factors Other than Age” (RFOA) under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA). Wait, wha, wha, what the heck is an RFOA? (The Cliff Notes versions because, like, you could click…
Let’s say you operate a business in NJ. Your disabled employee comes to you requesting an accommodation for his disability. Does the mere failure to provide that accommodation trigger a claim under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD)? What about under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)? I…
Below are summaries of four pieces of legislation of which employers should take note: Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act. Senator Tom Harkin (IA-D) introduced this bill last week. It would overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc. and lower the burden of…
Over the weekend, I read this story by Laura Hibbard at the Huffington Post about a phony job flyer handed out by two men in red blazers posing as Chick-Fil-A employees [link to video] on the campus of New York University. The phony flyer states: Remember Chick-Fil-A is a Christian…
Back in December, I wrote here about a federal court in Louisiana recognizing that a morbidly-obese plaintiff may have a physical impairment which, if it substantially limits one or more major life activities, would bring that plaintiff within the scope of the ADA (the pre-ADAAA version). As an update to…
Allegedly, of course. Say it ain’t so, Paula. RadarOnline.com reports here — how many times to I get to type that?!? — that a former employee of one of Paula Deen’s restaurants has accused both the TV chef and her brother of race discrimination and sexual harassment. You can find…
When an employee sues his former employer alleging a religiously hostile work environment, he must prove, among other things, that he was subjected to harassment based on his religion and that the harassment was either severe or pervasive. What do you think? Is the email below from a company General…
Quick quiz: What protections does the ADA provide to veterans with disabilities? When is a veteran with a service-connected disability protected by the ADA? May an employer ask if an applicant is a “disabled veteran” if it is seeking to hire someone with a disability? So, how did you do?…
I’ve come up with some pretty creative defenses to unlawful harassment. Usually, however, before I file a pleading, I take out my trusty red pen iPad and delete those arguments that are just so outrageous that I feel my client will lose credibility with the court. But that’s just me. After…
Hey, that blog title looks familiar. Oh yeah! I wrote about it here back in October. This time around, another federal court, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, has reaffirmed that while a “leave of absence may be a reasonable accommodation [under the Americans with Disabilities Act]”, the employee must provide…