Discrimination and Unlawful Harassment

Will the EEOC become more employer-friendly in the Fall?

August 22, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

The word on the street according to Kevin McGowan at Bloomberg/BNA (here $$$) is that U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Jacqueline A. Berrien (D) has decided not to seek renomination to the EEOC.

Originally an Obama recess-appointment, the Senate confirmed Ms. Berrien as EEOC Chair in December 2010. Her term expired on July 1, 2014, but she is permitted to retain her seat until September 1, 2014.

Yes, you can fire an employee who discloses a disability at his termination meeting

August 21, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Filed under: duh!

An employer-defendant argued that cancer — CANCER!!! — is not an ADA disability

August 13, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

How do you think that worked out? (I’ve got a pretty good guess too).

After the jump, let’s see if we’re right.

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Court says having to pee uncontrollably is not an ADA disability

August 8, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

~~Talk about a pissed-off plaintiff.~~

I’ll be here all week. (Thank God it’s Friday).

More on this interesting Americans with Disabilities Act decision after the jump…

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Guess why dude lost his ADA failure-to-accommodate claim. (Hint: he didn’t ask for one).

August 7, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

When the new amendments to the the Americans with Disabilities Act took effect in 2009, the law became more employee-friendly by expanding the definition of what constitutes a disability.

That said, the law doesn’t (yet) require an employer to have a sixth sense about whether a disabled employee requires a reasonable accommodation.

Generally, an employee has to ask for it. Or, as we find out after the jump, an ADA failure-to-accommodate lawsuit is pretty much doomed.

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Learn all about religious accommodations in the workplace today at 2:00 PM EDT

August 5, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Why, just the other night, I playing my 5-year-old son in a friendly game of Uno.

Well, it was friendly-ish in a cutthroat sorta way. At least, that’s what the look on his tear-stained face suggested to me when I mouthed “Uno,” shimmied, and spiked my final card to win my fourth game in a row.

Now, some would say that I took it a bit too far when I collected his tears, and then painted them on my face to mock his crying.

Inappropriate Facebook videos, comments doom an employee’s discrimination claims

August 4, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

On the clock or off, when employees do dumb stuff on Facebook, it could cost them their jobs. And, apparently, their discrimination claims against their former employer too.

Yep, another employee screwed up online. Go figure.

FACT OR FICTION: The ADA requires all employers to offer light duty.

August 1, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

That’s right folks. It’s time for another edition of “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.”

Peep this ADA failure-to-accommodate case. Plaintiff is disabled and requests light duty. However, the evidence presented showed that there were no light duty positions available and the plaintiff presented no evidence to the contrary.

In denying the plaintiff’s ADA claim, the court underscored that it’s the plaintiff’s burden to show that a requested reasonable accommodation exists and is available. Otherwise, my friends, if it’s not available, then it’s not reasonable.