According to a federal appellate court from California, a state that has embraced marijuana as an effective treatment for individuals who face debilitating pain, an employer may discriminate against an employee because of the employee’s use of marijuana. This holds true whether the marijuana use is recreational or medicinal, because the…
What started out well for the employer… On April 29, 2009, Catherine Coffman, an employee of Robert J. Young Company, Inc. (“RJY”), got into a motorcycle accident. RJY provided Ms. Coffman with leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Just before Ms. Coffman’s FMLA expired, RJY offered to return…
Let’s say you have an employee with narcolepsy. This employee has been working for you for years with no issue. But business needs changed and you reassign this narcoleptic employee to a new shift. Shortly thereafter, the employee comes into HR and requests a shift change. Your response is take…
Maryland has a new law forbidding employers from demanding that job applicants and employees divulge online passwords. Two weeks ago, the federal government proposed similar legislation. And, last week, news surfaced that Delaware may be placing the same restrictions on employers. But who needs to demand online passwords, when, according…
Smells like patchouli. Or is that teen spirit? Hey, it’s been a long day. Can an employer insist on regular attendance without violating the ADA? Maybe. says Robin Shea at the Employment and Labor Insider. And forget about indefinite leave as a reasonable accommodation under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination…
Remember back in July 2011 when I told you that a miniature horse might be reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act? Giddy-up! I whinny! Ok, I’ll quit horsing around. (I mare or may not be referring to a printed-out list of horse puns as I type this…) More…
Let’s say you operate a business in NJ. Your disabled employee comes to you requesting an accommodation for his disability. Does the mere failure to provide that accommodation trigger a claim under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD)? What about under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)? I…
Back in December, I wrote here about a federal court in Louisiana recognizing that a morbidly-obese plaintiff may have a physical impairment which, if it substantially limits one or more major life activities, would bring that plaintiff within the scope of the ADA (the pre-ADAAA version). As an update to…
Quick quiz: What protections does the ADA provide to veterans with disabilities? When is a veteran with a service-connected disability protected by the ADA? May an employer ask if an applicant is a “disabled veteran” if it is seeking to hire someone with a disability? So, how did you do?…
Hey, that blog title looks familiar. Oh yeah! I wrote about it here back in October. This time around, another federal court, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, has reaffirmed that while a “leave of absence may be a reasonable accommodation [under the Americans with Disabilities Act]”, the employee must provide…