ADA

Accommodations: Use the courts’ simple factors to decide if a job function is really essential

02/09/2010

It’s up to employers to determine which job functions are essential and which are not. When a disabled employee challenges an employer’s list of essential functions, courts generally won’t second-guess the employer if the list of functions passes muster against a few simple guidelines. When deciding whether job functions are essential, courts consider these factors:

The inaccessible break room and the ADA

01/29/2010

Q. Our break/locker room is located upstairs. We have several employees (age 66 to 77) who are having trouble climbing the steep stairs due to advancing age. We’re afraid they’ll fall. They all say they’d crawl up the stairs before they quit.

Employee passed fitness exam? Put him to work

01/25/2010

Requiring an employee to undergo a fitness-for-duty examination to show he can perform his job doesn’t mean you’re regarding him as disabled or essentially conceding he is disabled. How you handle the exam results is what matters—not that you ordered an exam in the first place. If the exam shows the employee can perform the job, make sure you immediately reinstate him.

Start accommodations process when FMLA expires

01/25/2010

Change your policy now if you automatically terminate employees who use up their FMLA leave and can’t yet to return to work without restrictions. That’s because the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination requires employers to start an interactive accommodations process when they learn an employee may be disabled.

Your Best Defense: Prevention

01/22/2010

HR Law 101: When drugs don’t seem to present a problem in a workplace, it’s easy to develop a cavalier attitude about them. That’s not very smart. Drug abuse often begins with a single offender and then spreads out malignantly. Experts say your best defense is to detect drug abuse when it first appears and to root it out immediately …

Work restrictions? Seek job accommodations

01/22/2010

It can be frustrating and confusing to deal with a supposedly disabled employee. Because the ADA measures each individual’s disability by what he or she can’t do, employers can never be certain they’re in the right if they reject a disability claim. That’s one reason many employers conclude the safest approach is to make accommodations even if they aren’t entirely sure the employee is disabled.

Disabled worker? Don’t cave in to staff gripes

01/14/2010

Don’t, under any circumstances, use co-worker resentment over disability accommodations as a reason to transfer or terminate the disabled employee. If you’re intent on getting rid of a disabled employee, you’d better have a better reason than that.

No jury trials for disability retaliation—but you still must handle complaints properly

01/14/2010

Thanks to a recent 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision, employers no longer face the prospect of jury trials to resolve ADA retaliation claims. That’s a big victory, since juries are notorious for returning large awards against employers. Plus, the decision makes it clear that punitive damages are not available for retaliation, either.

Strictly limit employee medical information just to those who need to know

01/12/2010

The ADA requires employers to maintain strict confidentiality on any medical- or disability-related information. That means keeping it in a separate, secure file, away from prying eyes that have no business viewing the information. But confidentiality doesn’t apply just to paper or electronic records. Employers also have to make sure they don’t discuss such information with those who don’t need to know.

Hudson Valley Hospital not so sweet to diabetic employee