ADA

Use flextime schedule to curtail requests for unreasonable ADA accommodations

09/07/2011

One possible accommodation for disabled employees is a modified schedule that lets them take medications at prescribed times. To facilitate that, you may want to create a companywide flexible-schedule program. Doing so may mean a disabled employee won’t be entitled to any additional schedule changes.

Feds find fault with ‘no fault’ attendance policies

09/06/2011

Verizon’s recent $20 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit—the largest disability settlement in EEOC history—is shining a spotlight on the legal risks of no-fault attendance policies. The lawsuit claimed the company violated the ADA by refusing to make exceptions to its no-fault attendance policy to accommodate employees with disabilities.

Warn bosses: Don’t ask about caregivers’ responsibilities

09/02/2011

Employees can sue for discrimination based on being associated with a disabled individual. Employers must make sure they don’t use such associations as factors in job decisions. More employees are claiming that supervisors are discriminating against them because of fear that caring for a disabled individual will affect job performance.

Brief tenure, quick settlement with El Paso Starbucks

09/02/2011

Elsa Sallard, a dwarf who worked as a barista at an El Paso Starbucks, has settled her lawsuit against the company for $75,000. Sallard claimed Starbucks fired her after just three days on the job when she asked to stand on a stool behind the counter.

EEOC finds fault with ‘no fault’ attendance policies

08/25/2011

Don’t bury disabled with work while letting others slide

08/23/2011

Remind supervisors: If they pile on the work for disabled employees but not everyone else, there’s probably a disability discrimination lawsuit brewing.

Is that employee really disabled? Making the ADA call requires careful analysis

08/23/2011

Just because an employee takes FMLA leave to deal with a serious health condition doesn’t mean he’s disabled under the ADA—and therefore entitled to reasonable accommodations when he returns to work. Before jumping to the conclusion that a returning employee is entitled to whatever accommodation he requests, ask yourself whether he is, in fact, disabled. What counts is his condition at the time he requests the accommodation.

Can we make a deaf employee and his boss learn sign language?

08/18/2011

Q. Our company recently hired a deaf employee who communicates exclusively by written notes. We are finding that this process is time consuming and adversely affects productivity. May we require that both the deaf worker and his supervisor learn sign language and terminate their employment if they refuse?

Pepsi pays $120K to settle Hayward ADA lawsuit

08/18/2011

Pepsi Bottling Group has agreed to settle an EEOC lawsuit filed on behalf of a truck driver at the company’s Hayward facility who claimed he was fired after requesting time off during a medical emergency.

Employee with cerebral palsy agrees to settlement with Target

08/10/2011

Minneapolis-based retail giant Target will pay $160,000 to settle a disability discrimination suit at one of its California stores. The EEOC filed the suit on behalf of Jeremy Schott, who suffers from cerebral palsy.

ADA