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ADA

Head off ADA complaints by proactively offering to discuss accommodations

02/01/2008

The ADA requires employers to engage in an interactive process to determine whether an applicant or employee is actually disabled and what, if any, accommodations are possible. But the law doesn’t expect employers to be clairvoyant …

Don’t assume—It’s up to employee to raise disability issues

02/01/2008

Do you suspect an employee may have a mental or psychological disability that may need accommodation—even though he hasn’t mentioned it? Tread carefully. If you assume the employee is disabled and he’s not, he’ll be able to sue you for regarding him as disabled. Here’s the best way to handle the matter …

Responding to mold allergy illness complaints

02/01/2008
Q. We have an employee who claims she feels sick whenever she is at work. She attributes it to a mold allergy. What should I do?

Consider burden on others when accommodating disabilities

02/01/2008

It’s tough balancing the rights of disabled employees and the rest of your staff. It’s great to be able to offer accommodations that allow a disabled worker to stay in the labor force. But you don’t have to go to such extremes that your other employees have to pick up considerable slack left by the accommodation …

Minnesota Human Rights Act

02/01/2008
The Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA) is the state’s super anti-discrimination law combining the elements of several federal laws, including Title VII, the ADEA and the ADA. While those federal anti-discrimination laws cover employers with 15 or more employees, the MHRA covers all employers regardless of size …

You don’t have to raise arbitration at the EEOC stage

01/01/2008

If, like many employers, you would rather avoid litigation by relying instead on arbitration to settle workplace disputes, you probably know that employees still may take their claims to the EEOC. That’s because the agency claims an interest in knowing whether employers are following the nation’s anti-discrimination laws. But it’s perfectly legal to force an employee into arbitration over those same claims …

Employers—Not employees—Choose ADA accommodation

01/01/2008

Sometimes disabled employees and their employers have different views of the accommodations needed to do their jobs. Fortunately, it’s up to the employer, not the employee, to pick the accommodation. Simply put, the employee isn’t the master of the accommodation—the employer is …

Condition worthy of FMLA leave might not be ADA disability

01/01/2008

The FMLA and the ADA may seem as though they overlap, but that’s not always the case. A disability under the ADA is almost always a serious health condition under the FMLA, but not every serious health condition is an ADA disability. Here’s why …

EEOC called after MRSA scare costs Miami man his job

01/01/2008

A South Florida man may be the first U.S. employee to lose his job over methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus—a highly contagious and potentially lethal, drug-resistant bacterial infection also known as MRSA …

Disabled or not? Diagnosis and symptoms are just part of the analysis

01/01/2008

Many serious conditions aren’t disabilities at all under the ADA. It all depends on how the condition affects the person’s daily life. That’s why it’s important to gather as much information as possible before you concede that an employee is disabled. Many times, the claimed condition just doesn’t measure up …