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The Employer Handbook Blog

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The feds are trying to make unionizing your workplace easier than draining a two-foot putt.

On Friday, the National Labor Relations Board issued a decision in Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC that it claims in this press release will “effectuate employees’ right to bargain through representatives of their choosing and improve the fairness and integrity of Board-conducted elections.” That’s one way of putting it. Until…

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I may have located the blueprint showing when regular, in-person attendance is an ADA essential job function

Earlier this month, a federal appellate court had to decide whether a hospital employee could perform her job remotely or whether the job’s essential functions required her to come to work in person. Spoiler alert: The plaintiff lost the failure-to-accommodate claim she asserted under the Americans with Disabilities Act. But…

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An employer asked an employee for a doctor’s note with every intermittent FMLA absence. Here’s how it turned out…

All you Family Medical Leave Act savants know about the 30-day rule, right? Once an employer initially certifies an employee for FMLA leave, it cannot seek recertification more often than once every 30 days unless one of these exceptions applies. Hold that thought as I tell you about the facts…

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There’s a deadline to file discrimination charges with the EEOC. An employee learned that courts rarely excuse late filings.

Employees who want to bring federal anti-discrimination claims in court can’t just file the lawsuit. Instead, they must first file a charge of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. There are time limits to filing with the EEOC. The EEOC website states: In general, you need to file…

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Does Title VII only cover ultimate employment decisions? Another federal appellate court doesn’t think so.

Imagine a business that gives its employees two days off each week. There’s nothing abnormal about that. However, the company uses a sex-based policy to determine which two days an employee can pick. Only men can select full weekends off—women cannot. Instead, female employees can pick either two weekdays off…

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Why might the Phillie Phanatic get paid for the time it takes to get into costume at the ballpark?

By Terry Foote – I took this photograph while attending a Spring Training game, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link Because who is going to click if I had titled this post, “The Third Circuit clarifies when compensable work is the ‘integral and indispensable.'” But, now that you’re here, you might as…

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Can a company require OT — even if a disability prevents an employee from working long hours?

TL;DR: Yes. But, working overtime must be an essential function of the job. Here’s an example from a recent Fifth Circuit decision. The plaintiff worked as a detention officer. One of the requirements for the job of detention officer was to “work overtime as required,” including “up to sixteen (16)…

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EEOC claims four HR employees facilitated two acts of disability bias against the same person

The Americans with Disabilities Act makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a qualified applicant or employee with a disability. According to a lawsuit that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed yesterday, an employer did both. To the same individual. Here’s more from the EEOC press release:…