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Every once in a while, a different client calls me with the same Americans with Disabilities Act question, “Eric, our employee tells us that she has a disability and needs and accommodation. Can we ask for medical documentation to help us evaluate whether an accommodation request is reasonable?”
Yep. Continue reading
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Let’s say that you have an employee prone to angry outbursts. Sound familiar? Continue reading
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By National Museum of American History – Image by Godot13, Public Domain, Link
Workplace accommodations can be easy.
For example, when an employee with carpal tunnel syndrome requests an ergonomic keyboard to perform his job, and his job involves a lot of typing, you get him the keyboard.
Or maybe you have an employee with Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is a type of depression that is exacerbated by gray overcast skies and poor indoor lighting. Several inexpensive lighting products can enable that employee to perform the essential functions of the job.
But, where employers often run into problems is with leave as an accommodation. Job transfers too.
In 2020, the Americans with Disabilities Act turns 30. President George H.W. Bush signed it into law in 1990 to ensure civil rights for individuals with disabilities. Chia-Yi Hou at The Hill published a nice 30-year ADA recap here.
By Augustus Binu, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Because I’m a lawyer, I’ll say it depends. Except, I won’t charge you 0.1 hours of my time to say it. Continue reading
Image Credit: https://freesvg.org/1550658029 (Public Domain)
Regular, in-person attendance is generally critical to performing one’s job. So, when an employee exhausts her twelve weeks of leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act only to miss another 33 days of work (resulting in a 59% absentee rate), one’s job security may be in jeopardy.
But, let’s back up a sec, as I tell you the facts of this disability discrimination case I read last night. Continue reading
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In the context of an employment discrimination lawsuit, when I think about a demotion, I’m also thinking of retaliation. Continue reading
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I’m pretty sure that I’ve blogged about this before. But, maybe not. So, either what I’m about to tell you bears repeating, or I’m only going to say this once, so pay attention. Continue reading
Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
There are times when employers have to make difficult decisions impacting the workplace. Today, I’m going to talk to you about one of them involving an employee who attempted suicide and, subsequently, pressed the company to return him to work.
Renée Gordon (FDA), Victovoi [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
The job required some fairly physical work; namely, climbing and working on and around heavy equipment. The company’s policy was not to hire anyone with a BMI of 40 or greater because of the “substantially higher risk of developing certain conditions like sleep apnea, diabetes, and heart disease and the unpredictable onset of those conditions can result in sudden incapacitation.” Given the job requirements, this could create an unsafe workplace. So, the company told the applicant that he was welcome to reapply later if he lost the weight and kept it off.
Instead, the applicant sued, alleging a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Continue reading
The Employer Handbook Blog