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ADA

New ADA amendments law expands employee disability rights

11/06/2008

Effective Jan. 1, 2009, employers with 15 or more employees have a new set of ADA rules to contend with. President Bush signed off on a law significantly amending the ADA in September, greatly changing how employers must handle disabled applicants and employees.

What should we do once an employee exhausts FMLA leave?

11/06/2008

Q. We are a large company and are dealing with a situation with a sick store manager. He has used up all his FMLA leave and is still not able to return to work. Can we safely terminate his employment now?

Demand fitness exam when performance slips

11/04/2008

You don’t have to ignore a sudden and shocking deterioration in an employee’s performance and behavior. You can and should ask for a fitness-for-duty exam. Just be prepared to discuss possible accommodations if it turns out the employee is disabled.

ADA protections don’t cover independent contractors

10/28/2008

Independent contractors aren’t covered by the ADA, as the following case shows …

Don’t be surprised if tort claim follows initial lawsuit

10/28/2008

Government employees who want to sue for such things as defamation have to let the state know before they file suit. It gets trickier, however, when the employee amends a previous suit …

Demand medical information before considering employee’s accommodation request

10/22/2008

Employees who want their employers to make reasonable accommodations for their disabilities must let their employers know they need accommodations. But some employees don’t want to provide a lot of medical information and may stall the process while they make numerous accommodation suggestions …

The new ADA Amendments Act: What every employer should know

10/21/2008

The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 will become effective on Jan. 1, 2009. Now is the time to prepare for the impact. The new law effectively broadens the scope of protection offered by the ADA, which Congress found to have been narrowed in recent years by various U.S. Supreme Court decisions and EEOC regulations.

The changing face of the ADA: Complying with the new amendments

10/14/2008

On Jan. 1, 2009, the newly enacted ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA) will go into effect. The law clarifies the ADA definition of disability and overturns certain U.S. Supreme Court decisions and EEOC regulations that narrowly interpreted the ADA …

Rely on doctor’s orders when making ADA call

10/07/2008

Under the ADA, employees who aren’t actually disabled can nonetheless sue employers if the employers erroneously perceive them to be disabled. But there’s good news on this arcane ADA front …

Alcoholism isn’t always an ADA disability

10/07/2008

Employers sometimes forget that just because a condition has a name and can be serious, it doesn’t always mean it’s a disability. In one recent case, an admitted alcoholic who had undergone inpatient treatment was deemed not to be disabled under the ADA and therefore not entitled to reasonable accommodations …