ADA

Approved FMLA leave doesn’t mean worker is disabled

03/09/2012

Just because someone has a serious health condition that qualifies for FMLA leave, it doesn’t always mean the condition is a disability. And merely approving someone’s FMLA request isn’t the same as admitting the employee is disabled.

Can we ask about disabilities before hiring?

03/08/2012

Q. We recently extended an employment offer to someone who was later determined to be unable to perform the job’s essential functions due to a visual impairment. As a result, we wasted a significant amount of time. Aren’t workers obligated under the ADA to disclose that they suffer from a disability?

Can we make deaf employee–and his boss–learn and communicate with sign language?

03/08/2012

Q. We recently hired a deaf employee who communicates exclusively by written notes. We are finding that this process is time-consuming and harms productivity. May we require the deaf worker and his supervisor to learn sign language? Can we terminate them if they refuse?

What turkey fired the HIV-positive employee?

02/24/2012

Butterball, the Garner-based turkey processor, faces EEOC disability discrimination charges after it allegedly tolerated harassment against an HIV-positive employee and then fired her after she complained.

Dubious request for ADA accommodation? Be prepared to document rationale for denial

02/24/2012

What should you do if an employee produces a health care professional’s diagnosis of stress, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), along with a recommendation to reassign the employee? Do you accept that the employee is disabled and consider the reassignment as a reasonable accommodation?

Employee acting as her own lawyer? Prepare for a long slog through the legal system

02/22/2012

Ten years of litigation has finally come to an end now that a federal appeals court has tossed the last claims of an employee who acted as her own lawyer.

Excessive bathroom use: a real disability?

02/13/2012

Q. We have a couple of employees who get tardies for being late and their excuses have been that they’re in the bathroom due to a disability. So I follow them to the bathroom because I know they are lying. Am I breaking the law by following them? Is this considered harassment? It’s getting out of hand.

Know Minnesota’s disability law: State statute has lower threshold than federal ADA

02/09/2012

Under the ADA, employees who claim to be disabled must show that their condition substantially impairs a major life function. Minnesota has its own version of the law. It requires that employees show their condition materially impairs a major life function. That’s a lower standard, but still a tough one for employees to prove.

Accommodate–don’t dismiss–disabled worker

02/09/2012

Disabled employees may have trouble doing their jobs without an accommodation. If you simply tell the employee to figure out a way to perform the job and refuse to help find an accommodation, the employee may quit and apply for unemployment.

Fed contractors face new disability staffing quotas

02/08/2012

The U.S. Office of Federal Contracts Compliance Programs (OFCCP) proposed a new rule that would require federal contractors and subcontractors to have at least 7% of their workforce contain people with disabilities.

ADA