The Employer Handbook

Articles Posted in Maternity

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Pixabay
Just before the Labor Day weekend, I blogged here about an Americans with Disabilities Act complaint filed in federal court by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that should have employers scrutinizing their leave policies and procedures.

Today, I’ve got news of another EEOC lawsuit filed in my backyard in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. As I explain below, this one will have you reaching for a different leave policy — parental leave — to ensure no that there’s no hatin’ on the fellas. Continue reading

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SHRM headquarters in Alexandria, Va..JPG
So, I’m diligently preparing and honing my delivery ***fart*** for my FMLA/ADA presentation this Tuesday at SHRM’s 2017 Employment Law and Legislative Conference in Washington, DC, when, what do I see? It’s a new SHRM study on “employer practices, policies, programs and benefits that address personal and family needs of employees.”

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On average, organizations gave mothers 41 paid days of maternity leave, compared with 22 paid days of paternity leave for fathers. That statistic comes from 2016 Paid Leave in the Workplace, a survey recently conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management.

Does this disparity demonstrate discrimination against men?

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Late last month, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter signed this bill, which requires reasonable workplace accommodations for employees who have needs related to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition.

As noted in this prior post about Philadelphia’s new law, reasonable accommodations would include, but are not limited to, restroom breaks, periodic rest for those who stand for long periods of time, assistance with manual labor, leave for a period of disability arising from childbirth, reassignment to a vacant position, and job restructuring.

An employer can avoid having to provide a workplace accommodation, but will have the burden of proving “undue hardship.” The “undue hardship” factors generally mirror those found in the Americans with Disabilities Act and revolve around the cost of the accommodation and the employer’s overall financial resources.

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In most states, absent a contract of employment, an employee is considered at-will (i.e., he or she can be fired for any reason or no reason at all). Many employers reinforce — in very prominent locations in employee handbooks — that their employees are at-will.

What happens, however, when an employer later promises an employee that she can take 12 months of leave and then return to her job?

Can the employer later renege and rely upon the at-will employment doctrine as a basis not to reinstate? Or is the employer SOL? Find out, after the jump…

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“Doing What’s Right – Not Just What’s Legal”