The Employer Handbook Blog
Last week, this Vyopta / Wakefield Survey about employee use of remote technology began making the rounds. The press release highlights “Online Accountability,” noting that nearly a quarter of those surveyed reported they have seen an employee fired because of video or audio conference mistakes. It seems that business leaders expect employees to figure it out — or pay the price.” Continue reading
Articles Posted in Disability
Sex addiction. That isn’t a disability under the ADA is it? Or IS IT?!?!
I’ll bet you that they didn’t ask about this on the SHRM-CP exam, did they? Continue reading
A Florida doctor can no longer see patients allegedly after selling $50 mask waivers on Facebook
Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
It’s tough enough dealing with employees who submit shady doctor notes to avoid masks or getting a COVID-19 vaccination. (I find that letterhead printed on a Saltine is a dead-bang giveaway.) But, what happens to the doctors that write these opt-out letters?
Continue reading
Don’t fall for this anti-vaxxer workplace hack.
Hey, they can’t all be hip hop HR posts. But, you’ll be thanking me for helping to sleuth out what appears to be a big medical and religious COVID-19 vaccination accommodation scam now percolating on the West Coast and coming soon to a city near you. Continue reading
Could Shock G a/k/a Humpty Hump have used FMLA leave to get a nose job?
All right! Stop whatcha doin’. ‘Cause I’m about to — school you on the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Yes, it’s another hip hop employment law lesson, this time honoring the late great Gregory Edward Jacobs a/k/a Shock G a/k/a Humpty Hump. Continue reading
Do COVID-19 business immunity state laws protect employers from ADA lawsuits too?
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay
According to Bloomberg Law, “broad liability protections that shield most or all businesses [from COVID-19 liability are in] roughly half of all states now.”
So let’s say that one of your employees is immunocompromised with an underlying disability, and she seeks an accommodation to mitigate the risk of her increased vulnerability to COVID-19. If the employers fail to accommodate, do “broad liability protections” under state law also foreclose COVID-19-related claims arising under the Americans with Disabilities or equivalent state disability-discrimination law?
44 million more reasons to properly define essential job functions and explore reasonable accommodations. And it’s the SAME EMPLOYER!!! 😲😨🤯
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booledozer, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
On Wednesday, I posted about a $250K Arkansas federal jury verdict against an employer for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Well, you’ll never believe this! Earlier in the month, another federal jury in Wisconsin concluded that the same employer had violated the ADA. But this wasn’t any piddling $250K verdict. No, sir. The jury awarded $3,670,000 in compensatory damages and another $40,300,000 in punitive damages.
Back up the armored car! Continue reading
250,000 reasons to consider a reasonable accommodation — even if the employee can perform his job duties anyway
Jami430, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Once during mediation, a federal judge asked me if I knew which type of discrimination jurors hated the most? I thought maybe age discrimination or retaliation, which jurors could either relate to personally or through a spouse or parent.
“No,” said the federal judge. “The answer is discrimination against veterans.” Continue reading
An employment lawyer’s take on track star Sha’Carri Richardson’s suspension for using marijuana
Image by Please Don’t sell My Artwork AS IS from Pixabay
Last week, I read the news that Sha’Carri Richardson, one of the favorites to win Olympic gold for the United States in the women’s 100-meter dash, was suspended for a month for testing positive for marijuana. As a management-side employment lawyer, I’ll admit that my initial reaction was that she broke the rules and deserved the discipline associated with the infraction.
Then, I thought to myself, that is a really dumb rule. Continue reading