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ADA

Take that! EEOC says you may have to let workers steal

06/16/2014

We all understand that granting reasonable accommodations to disabled workers (as required under the ADA) may include providing employees with a new chair or granting more flexible break periods. But a new case last month says employers may have to allow a worker to steal their merchandise as a reasonable accommodation. Really?

Bypass ADA interactive accommodation process at your peril

06/09/2014

When it comes ADA disability discrimination claims, employers have to think about litigation as soon as an employee self-identifies as disabled and brings up potential reasonable accommodations. If a supervisor or HR professional refuses to even consider accommodations, it all but guarantees that the case won’t be dismissed at the summary judgment stage, potentially leading to a jury trial.

Is telecommuting a more ‘reasonable’ ADA accommodation?

06/02/2014
A recent court case raises a growing issue: Just because a company has a building, do workers need to show up there to get their jobs done?

Employer gets to choose ADA reasonable accommodation

06/02/2014
Sometimes, there are several ways to  accommodate a disabled employee. As long as the one the em­­­­ployer chooses is reasonable, the employee can’t claim an ADA violation.

Part-time schedule may not be ADA solution

05/28/2014
Employees who have used up all available leave may want to return to work part time while they are still healing from an injury or illness. Whether part-time work is a reasonable accommodation under the ADA depends on whether all essential functions of the job can be performed part time.

When deciding ADA accommodations, demand complete medical information

05/23/2014

Disabled employees are entitled to reasonable accommodations, which must be decided on the basis of an interactive discussion between the employer and employee. Some employees, perhaps sensitive about their medical histories, try to limit the information their employers can see. That can compromise the interactive process.

Would a disability accommodation work? Test and see

05/19/2014

Let’s say you have an employee who is returning to work from an injury. The ADA requires you to offer her a “reasonable” accommodation, but you want to make sure the accommodation is safe. So you decide to have the employee demonstrate that accommodation to see for yourself. That’s a smart move … just make sure you follow through on the demonstration.

11 employment laws (almost) every employer must follow

05/13/2014
Federal employment laws can be terribly confusing, particularly because they often have different definitions for the size of businesses that must comply. Use the following list to make sure you’re not spending time and money complying with laws that only apply to larger businesses.

Never link absences to employee’s disabled relative

05/01/2014
Here’s an easy way to avoid unnecessary litigation: If you are disciplining an employee for missing too much work, don’t tie absences to a disabled relative’s condition. If you do, you may end up losing an association discrimination case.

Disabled employee does job successfully? Then no ADA accommodation is required

05/01/2014

Under some limited circumstances, employers may be obligated to suggest reasonable accommodations for struggling workers who have obvious disabilities that appear to interfere with their ability to perform essential job functions. But that’s really only true for em­­ployees whose disabilities are obvious and limit the employee’s ability to speak up for himself.