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The Employer Handbook Blog

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How much leave from work is unreasonable under the ADA? [SPOILER ALERT: Not much]

That’s because, last week, a federal appellate court held that long-term medical leave is not a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. 12 weeks of FMLA plus 2-3 more months of leave. The case is Severson v. Heartland Woodcraft, Inc., and you can read the Seventh Circuit’s opinion here.…

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No, President Trump, NFL owners cannot legally fire players that #TakeTheKnee

And it has nothing to do with the First Amendment and freedom of speech. ICYMI, some NFL players decided to protest during this week’s games. On September 23, at a rally for Alabama Republican Senate candidate Luther Strange, President Donald Trump called upon National Football League owners to fire NFL players…

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Does the ADA require you to favor minimally-qualified disabled employees over rock-star job applicants?

It depends. (Of course, it does). Suppose that you employ someone who, during the course of his employment, becomes disabled. This disability makes it impossible for the employee to perform his current job. Enter the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA requires an employer to provide a reasonable accommodation to a qualified…

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This military hospital’s social media cluster-you-know-what checks all the wrong boxes

Originally, I was toying with titling this post, “What Employers Can Learn From Military Nurses Who Pose Newborns Dancing to 50 Cent, Give Them The Finger, And Then Snap A Video And Photo Captioned, ‘How I currently feel about these mini Satans.’” But, yesterday’s blog title was so long already.…

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In the Third Circuit, willful FLSA violations are as common as spotting a unicorn sliding down a rainbow into a leprechaun’s pot of gold as pigs fly by.

If an employer violates the Fair Labor Standards Act, like by not paying overtime, the plaintiff(s) can generally recover two years of unpaid overtime for the two years preceding the lawsuit. Those plaintiffs may also recover liquidated damages equal to the unpaid overtime. So, if an employer owes $100 in…

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Is the EEOC going “wishy-washy” on LGBT rights at work?

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission believes that discrimination based on LGBT status amounts to sex discrimination. Sex discrimination is unlawful under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. However, some recent comments imply that the EEOC’s position on LGBT rights at work may change. Like, how about…

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Firefighter suspended for telling Facebook fam that he’d rather save a dog than a million black people.

Proving once again that freedom of speech is a big, fat myth when it comes to keeping one’s job, an Ohio firefighter has been suspended after he posted on Facebook about how he would rather save a dog than a million n*****s. According to the Ariel Zilber at The Daily…

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3 complaints and an investigation with discipline, how could an employer not know about possible harassment?!?

I’m not sure what kind of evidence a federal jury was expecting when it concluded that two plaintiff-intervenors (i.e., the alleged victims of sexual harassment on whose behalf the EEOC pursued claims) did not do enough to notify the employer-defendant about possible harassment in the workplace. And neither did a federal judge…

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“Perverse and absurd,” today’s post isn’t really as fun as it sounds.

Not even close to that fun. No, it’s about a guy who got fired after his employer concluded that he had gained unauthorized access to its electronic files. It just so happens that the plaintiff accessed those files to assist his employer in defending two discrimination actions that other employees…

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Company forces employee to sign a confidentiality statement or be fired, plays itself.

If you’re going to draw a line in the sand by telling an employee to sign something or be fired, here’s a pro tip: Make sure that whatever you want signed isn’t unlawful. Late last month, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals (here) stamped a National Labor Relations Board decision,…