Federal anti-discrimination laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act, help ensure that individuals with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities at work as everyone else. Both laws require employers to provide individuals with disabilities with reasonable accommodations if needed to perform the essential functions…
On Monday, three House Republicans and three House Democrats reintroduced the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act (POWADA), billed as a bipartisan proposal to strengthen anti-discrimination protections for older workers. How does POWADA accomplish this? The Age Discrimination In Employment Act makes it unlawful for an employer “to fail or refuse to hire…
If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and swims like a duck, it’s probably a duck. Hold that thought while I tell you about someone who probably wouldn’t believe me. The plaintiff in the federal court decision I read last night had worked for the same employer…
One of the largest jury verdicts in recent memory for a claim of employment discrimination was a $25.6 million award to a white manager who alleged that her former employer fired her because of her race. But these wins involving discrimination against the so-called “majority” are few and far between.…
In June, the New York Senate approved this bill prohibiting noncompetition agreements and certain restrictive covenants. I wrote that the days of noncompetition agreements in New York “are as limited as the Knicks’ chances of winning another NBA title.” Oops. There are multiple reports, among them this one from Judy Greenwald…
A few months ago, I blogged about a lawsuit in which the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged that an employer denied a deaf job applicant’s accommodation request and terminated his candidacy because verbal communication and hearing were job requirements for the position in a remote setting. Late last month,…
Wait, Eric! Didn’t you blog about this yesterday? Actually, yesterday’s post explored how you can tell if full-time work is essential to an employee’s job. But, to answer today’s question about in-office versus remote work, I’ll use the same Eleventh Circuit decision I addressed yesterday. We have an employee on…
I’ll give you an example. Suppose one of your supervisors has worked full-time (at least 40-hour weeks) on the evening shift for many years. Then, they are diagnosed with a disability and take FMLA leave. When the FMLA expired, they requested (and the company approved) a temporary accommodation allowing them…
“Eric, we have an employee who needed four weeks off for hip surgery. We provided it. After the surgery, they requested three more months off to have a second surgery. We provided it. Then, they experienced even more complications that required even more surgery, and their doctor told us they…
I’m generally skeptical when I read about lawsuits that individuals accused of discrimination bring against their former employers. Last night, I read about a doctor who was terminated from his position after his former employer received an anonymous complaint allegedly accusing him of sex discrimination. The doctor (plaintiff) claimed that…