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ADA

Partners in time: Balance FMLA and ADA when employee’s serious illness is a disability

01/05/2012
Employees with a serious health condition are entitled to take intermittent FMLA leave when their conditions flare up. And disabled employees are entitled to reasonable accommodations for their disabilities. That can include time off. Employers must therefore consider granting intermittent FMLA leave among the possible ADA reasonable accommodations when an employee has a serious health condition that is also a disability.

Could high school diploma requirement violate the ADA?

01/05/2012

An “informal discussion letter” from the EEOC had employment-law circles buzzing last month—and creating uncertainty about employer’s use of high school diplomas as hiring criteria. The nonbinding EEOC letter said employers, in some instances, could infringe on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when requiring all applicants to have a high school diploma.

How to: Conduct your annual HR policy review

12/23/2011
We’re already a month into 2012. It’s time to review your employment policies and practices in light of the government’s aggressive efforts to enforce employment laws. The EEOC, the DOL and a host of other agencies are all cracking down on employers. Good, up-to-date policies are your best defense against the fed’s stepped up scrutiny.

Asthmatic fired after creating his own accommodation

12/20/2011
Whenever an employee reveals a disability, employers must explore reasonable accommodations. The EEOC clearly doesn’t consider it reasonable to send an employee home and then fire him, as the following case shows.

If FMLA leave has expired, when must we grant additional time off?

12/19/2011
Q. We have an employee who has exhausted his FMLA leave, but wants additional time off. Do we have to grant his request?

Is every function really essential? Be flexible about disabled employees’ duties

12/19/2011
An employer has learned the hard way that insisting every function of a job is essential is a bad policy when it comes to employees with disabilities.

Drug test leads to disability bias suit against Chicago firm

12/19/2011
Employers know to be wary of drug tests because they sometimes falsely show that someone has been using illegal drugs. Now Chicago-based United Insurance has learned of another danger: Drug tests can t­rigger disability discrimination lawsuits.

Your dollars at risk: Protect yourself from personal liability

12/13/2011
HR pros spend a lot of their time ensuring that their companies comply with the law so they don’t wind up in court and lose big bucks to a jury verdict. But more and more, they find themselves defending not their employers’ bottom lines, but their own bank accounts. Here’s how to protect your personal funds.

Doggedly stubborn law firm sued over access for service animal

12/07/2011
You would think that a personal-injury law firm would be sensitive to a client’s need for a service dog, but apparently attorneys at the firm of Larkin, Axelrod, Ingrassia & Tetenbaum are unfamiliar with Title III of the ADA.

Before starting ADA accommodations process, ask basic question: Is this employee disabled?

11/30/2011
Finding a reasonable accommodation is a two-way street. Both the employer and the disabled employee are supposed to engage in the ADA’s interactive accommodations process. But part of that interactive process includes determining whether the employee is, in fact, disabled. If he’s not, the process need go no further.