Management-side employment lawyers preach it until they are blue in the face: companies should always document employee performance and disciplinary issues.
Why is this so important? A real-world example follows after the jump…
Welcome back to “Fact or Fiction” a/k/a “Quick Answers to Quick Questions” a/k/a QATQQ f/k/a “I don’t feel like writing a long blog post”.
So, is a miniature horse a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act? Maybe.
The Employment Law Blog Carnival has finally rolled into town.
What is a blog carnival? It is a collection of links on a particular topic — here, employment law — that bloggers have submitted to me, which I then arrange around a particular theme.
For this edition of the Carnival, it’s DJ-ESkeelz on the one and two, with a music-themed employment-law blog carnival. I’ve got 13 hot joints (read: 13 links to employment-law articles from some of the blogosphere’s best…)
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before:
- Job candidate is told that any job offer is contingent upon passing a drug test.
- On d-day, job candidate bolts from the drug-testing facility, claiming that he has trouble in confined spaces.
- No drug test means that job candidate is disqualified from the position.
- Job candidate sues claiming a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act for failure to accommodate.
Folks, I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. Just another day in the life of an employment lawyer.
After you hit the jump, you’ll find out whether the job candidate prevailed…
Today, I get to sleep in because The Employer Handbook has a guest blogger. It’s Andrew Kim, a summer associate at Dilworth Paxson LLP:
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Some people have no problem with heights (as seen above). But Darrell Miller, a bridge worker, had acrophobia (a.k.a. the fear of heights). In fact, Mr. Miller had suffered a panic attack due to that very fear while working on the bridge crew for the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). He then sought a reasonable accommodation so that he wouldn’t have to work on big bridges. IDOT refused. Did it violate the Americans with Disabilities Act?
Find out after the jump . . .
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination in the workplace against disabled individuals. By law, if an employer knows that an employee or applicant is disabled, it must reasonably accommodate the known disability, if doing so would not impose an “undue hardship” on the operation of the employer’s business. There are many types of reasonable accommodations, from modifying facilities to reassignment to a vacant position.
Leave from work may also be a reasonable accommodation. But how much? And how much is too much?
Find out, after the jump…
A 51-year-old auto-parts specialist with lupus, fibromyalgia, diabetes and arthritis, claimed that his 29-year-old co-worker called him an “old cripple” and an “old man,” labeled him “too old to be trained,” and threatened to beat him with a baseball bat.
The 51-year-old responded by telling his manager that he would kick the 29-year-old’s ass and then came to work with a handgun in his car.
Wha Wha Whaaaaaat?!?!
Did the older employee overreact? Maybe. But was he the victim of a hostile work environment?
Find out after the jump.
Although the Americans with Disabilities Act does not protect employees or applicants who use illegal drugs, it does protect those who are “participating in a supervised rehabilitation program, have successfully such a program, or who have otherwise been rehabilitated successfully.”
Does that mean that an employer cannot refuse to hire someone who, on the day after he completes a drug rehab program, applies for work?
Find out, after the jump.
As I reported last week, after receiving over 600 public comments on its proposed regulations implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA), the EEOC has released its final rules.
So what’s in these rules? And how will they affect employers? I’ve got a nice summary from the EEOC after the jump.
The Employer Handbook Blog