I’ll go ahead and file this one under “duh.” If an employer inquires about an employee’s medical condition, the Americans with Disabilities Act mandates that it be job-related or consistent with business necessity. Even then, an employer must treat any medical information obtained from a disability-related inquiry or medical examination,…
An employer’s statements about a successful job candidate’s “minority status, the American Dream, and the value of diversity” were not enough to show that it discriminated against an unsuccessful white candidate, ruled a New Jersey federal court recently. The case involved two police officers who were interviewing to become the…
The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against “qualified individuals with disabilities.” A qualified individual can perform the essential functions of their job with or without accommodation. While not the be-all-and-end-all, an employer’s business judgment about what job functions are essential carries substantial weight under the ADA. Still, courts often…
It may be as easy as listing the essential functions of the job. I’ll give you an example. A national furniture retailer hired a Warehouse Associate to unload and receive inbound furniture orders. One would assume that the job requires moving heavy objects often. But you know what you get…
Suppose an employee, an adherent of a religion you’ve never heard of, requests time off from work on certain religious observance days. The EEOC has some advice for employers: Because the definition of religion is broad and protects beliefs, observances, and practices with which the employer may be unfamiliar, the…
A recent Eleventh Circuit decision serves as a sobering reminder to employers why a plausible claim — a mere inference of bias – is all it takes for a plaintiff to pursue discrimination claims. The plaintiff is a white guy in his late 50s. In a complaint he filed in…
When an employee complains about discrimination or unethical business practices, there’s often a concern that they’ll construe any subsequent adverse employment action as retaliation. In a decision I read last night, a Michigan federal judge determined that a company had not retaliated against an employee who was fired not too…
Something caught my eye yesterday as I was perusing the EEOC newsroom. The federal watchdog recently announced that it had filed a lawsuit against an employer for something called Americans with Disabilities Act interference. What exactly is ADA interference? The ADA prohibits an employer from coercing, intimidating, threatening, or interfering…
About two weeks ago, I spotlighted an EEOC lawsuit where the agency claimed an employer fired a woman four days after she experienced a stillbirth and one day after submitting a confirming letter from her doctor, which also recommended six weeks to recuperate physically and grieve. The Pregnant Workers Fairness…
U.S. Department of Labor, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Over the weekend, Lilly Ledbetter, a woman who unintentionally became a champion of equal pay for men and women, died at 86. Ms. Ledbetter worked for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company (Goodyear) from 1979 until 1998. During much of this time,…