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The Employer Handbook Blog
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What are there legal risks of making a worker participate in an Employee Assistance Program?
Suppose that several employees complain that a coworker is creating a “hostile work environment” because they were afraid that she (the coworker) was going to report them (the employees) for engaging in unspecified misconduct in the workplace.
Can the employer respond by mandating an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) referral as a condition of the coworker’s continued employment?
I’ll give you a million reasons not to ask employees and applicants about family medical history
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) forbids discrimination against employees or applicants because of genetic information. Specifically, Title II of GINA prohibits using genetic information in making employment decisions, restricts employers from requesting, requiring, or purchasing genetic information, and strictly limits the disclosure of genetic information.
While GINA has been in effect for over ten years, it gets very little attention. Employees bring fewer discrimination charges under GINA than any other federal antidiscrimination statute that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission administers. But that doesn’t make it any less important or expensive when violations arise.
Check this out. Continue reading
Might you need to modify work schedules for disabled employees to make their commute safer?
A little over five years ago, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued an employer for disability discrimination. It claimed that the company, which temporarily granted a request to allow an employee with night blindness to work an earlier shift to avoid an evening commute, should have agreed to extend the accommodation. Its failure to do so violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, the EEOC alleged. Continue reading
EEOC: Hey, employer! You refused to accommodate an injured desk clerk with a stool. A simple stool.
Of all the hills on which an employer should plant its flag to defend, this is not the one. Continue reading
Let’s revisit whether morbid obesity is a disability (and why, sometimes, it may not matter).
In today’s blog post, we’re doubling up on the employment law lessons. It’s a two for Tuesday Thursday! Continue reading
Another employer learns the hard way that it’s better to hire slow and fire fast
A company fired one of its employees just ten days after learning about his disability. Although the proximity between the two doesn’t confirm that the employee’s disability motivated the employer’s decision, some other vital factors led a federal appellate court to overrule a lower court’s decision in favor of the employer, thus setting the stage for a jury trial on the plaintiff’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) claims.
I’ll explain why. Continue reading
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 stick around because the Seventh Circuit’s thoughtful analysis may help you decide whether regular work attendance is essential for the job. Continue reading
