Disability

Wait, what? What did that store’s general manager just say about the applicant with a hurt arm?

December 3, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: PublicDomainPictures.net (https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=80073&picture=wait-what-blocky-text)

Remember the employer that got socked with a six-figure jury award when it refused to allow a cashier to consume two bottles of orange juice from the store’s refrigerator to avoid slipping into diabetic shock?

Welp, that employer apparently has not yet mastered the Americans with Disabilities Act. Continue reading

Three wins for readers of The Employer Handbook

October 23, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Flickr.com (https://www.flickr.com/photos/keithallison/27388069805) //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

And it’s only Tuesday! Continue reading

Does the ADA protect someone recovering from drug addiction? Yep.

October 11, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit (Photo by: | VIRIN: 131224-F-IM476-001.JPG)

I’m sorry, dudes.

I totally meant to give you a blog post yesterday. I did.

But, the night before, which is when I generally compose this drivel, I got distracted. I was preoccupied with a certain MLB playoff game. Specifically, it was the one in which my Red Sox disposed of the Yankees, in Yankee Stadium, much to the chagrin of all of these losers.

I’m not a hater, I just blog a lot. Except on days after big Red Sox wins. Continue reading

Deaf lifeguards, deaf truck drivers, and the dangers of stereotyping an individual with a disability.

October 4, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/truck-18-wheeler-freight-shipping-309398/)

If you’ve been to one of my live Americans with Disability Act HR presentations, you’ve heard talk about a deaf lifeguard.

(If you haven’t and want a copy of my presentation, well, all you have to do is ask.)

In Keith v. County of Oakland, a deaf individual applied for a lifeguard position at Oakland County’s wave pool, only to be turned away. Allegedly, Oakland County stereotyped Mr. Keith and failed to adequately engage in an interactive process to determine whether, notwithstanding his inability to hear, Mr. Keith could perform the essential functions of the job with or without an accommodation. Continue reading

Eric’s Wild-n-Crazy HR-Compliance Road Show – Coming atcha!

September 27, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

Meyer-Disco

If my wide open collar and disco moves aren’t “gritty” enough for you, well, I can fix that. Continue reading

Can you ban your employees from wearing Nike apparel at work?

September 10, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

By Timidonfire [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

Recently, Nike unveiled a new ‘Just Do It’ advertising campaign centered around former National Football Leauge quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Here is the first commercial that aired.

Controversy. Continue reading

So, you want to change the essential functions of a particular job, do you? Let’s talk ADA.

September 6, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Photofunia.com (http://photofunia.com/results/5b90809e846d78530d8b45d5)

The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits an employer from discriminating against a qualified individual with a disability. What is a “qualified individual”? It’s someone who can perform the essential functions of the job with or without a reasonable accommodation? Ok, what’s an “essential job function”?

Or better yet, can nonessential functions of a particular job later become essential ones?

That’s what we’re going to explore today. Continue reading

EEOC: HR didn’t want to set a disabled employee up for failure, so the company fired her instead.

August 23, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

By Gooddeedsday [CC BY-SA 4.0 ], from Wikimedia Commons

Do you know that proverb “no good deed goes unpunished”?

This isn’t that situation. Continue reading

NJ federal court: Employers don’t have to excuse medical marijuana users from taking workplace drug tests

August 15, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

Photo by: | VIRIN: 110402-F-5068D-001.JPG (http://www.514amw.afrc.af.mil/News/Articles/Article/194292/random-drug-test-rates-rise-dramatically/)

By any reasonable, objective measure, New Jersey was having a pretty good employee-rights run in 2018 — even by NJ standards. Continue reading

Bah-gawd, those were two hecka-expensive bottles of orange juice!

August 8, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

By Agricultural Research Service ([1]) [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Three strikes and you’re out.

For one variety store chain accused of failing to accommodate and then firing a diabetic cashier who had to take a few bottles of orange juice from the store refrigerator to avoid seizing or passing out, well, the company swung hard!

Motion for Summary Judgment (whiff!)
Jury trial (whiff!)
Appeal to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals (steeeeeeeerike three!)