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Employment Law

Can we–should we–try to accommodate employee’s traffic anxiety?

09/26/2014

Q. One of our employees claims that traffic gives her anxiety and wants to alter her work schedule to avoid driving during peak travel times. It wouldn’t be a big deal but we’re afraid that if we do it for her, we will start to receive similar claims from other workers who have similar commutes. Do we have to accommodate her?

Be prepared when employees become whistle-blowers

09/26/2014
Legislators are creating new protections for those who report vio­lations to regulatory agencies.

Even courts can wind up in the EEOC’s cross hairs

09/26/2014
The Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas faces an EEOC age dis­crimination lawsuit after it dismissed a 70-year-old employee.

Boss’s stupid sexist comment may spur lawsuit

09/26/2014
Even a single comment can be enough to keep a sex discrimination case going—especially if the commentator happens to be a supervisor with firing authority.

Warn supervisors against comments on military service

09/26/2014
Here’s something to include in supervisory training sessions: Warn that negative comments about military service may put the employer on the defensive in the event the employee is terminated.

Inpatient treatment for alcoholism enough to prove disability to court

09/26/2014
Workers alleging disability discrimination generally have to show that they have a condition that substantially limits a major life function. But they don’t necessarily have to drag a doctor into court. They can prove a condition such as alcoholism by showing that they underwent inpatient treatment and suffered withdrawal symptoms while there.

Want to gauge readiness to return to work? Provide list of essential job functions

09/26/2014

Employees who take protected FMLA leave are only entitled to return to their jobs after leave if they are cleared to perform that job. Employers that want a specific fitness-for-duty certification must ask for more than just the certification. They also have to provide the employee with a list of the job’s essential functions for the doctor to use when assessing fitness for duty.

Complaining about unfairness isn’t protected

09/26/2014
Life can be unfair. When an em­­ployee complains about unfairness at work, make sure you document the complaint and make some notes on exactly what she said. If you can show she never mentioned sex, race, age or some other protected characteristic as the underlying reason for the “unfair” treatment she complained about, she hasn’t engaged in “protected activity” and can’t bring a retaliation claim against her employer.

When unpaid ‘gap time’ doesn’t violate FLSA

09/26/2014
With collective-action wage-and-hour claims on the rise, employers worry that they may be burned by unpaid work they didn’t even know employees were performing. But a recent appeals court decision provides a rare piece of good news: As long as employees haven’t worked more than 40 hours in any given workweek, so-called “gap time” between hours paid and hours worked doesn’t always mean liability.

House hearings explore how to rein in ‘deeply flawed’ EEOC

09/26/2014
The House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections has begun hearings to explore legislation that would “increase accountability” at the EEOC, an agency that “has spent a great deal of time and resources advancing a deeply flawed enforcement and regulatory agenda,” according to subcommittee Chair Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich.