Articles Posted in Disability

Image Credit: Pixabay.com

There are three types of disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act:

  • a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities (an “actual disability”), or
  • a record of a physical or mental impairment that substantially limited a major life activity (“record of”), or
  • an actual or perceived impairment that is not both transitory and minor (“regarded as”).

It’s the “regarded as” prong that I’m going to address today with a little help from the EEOC and Yo Gabba Gabba. Continue reading

REGISTER-NOW-HR-Seminar-on-FMLA-and-ADA
Do employee-leave issues and ACA woes have you feeling like this?

Well, next month, my friends at Kistler Tiffany and I have got your back. We’re presenting two free, live seminars to help you tackle your ACA, ADA, and FMLA issues.

  • The first will be on Wednesday, May 10, 2017 from 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM in Berwyn, PA.

Puzzle Mosaic Riddle Secret Mystery Mixture

The biggest impact on employers, when the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act took effect on January 1, 2009, was to downplay whether an employee actually had a disability, and get businesses focusing more on whether there existing a reasonable accommodation that would permit an employee to perform the essential functions of the job.

Many management-side employment lawyers joked that, under the ADAAA, everyone had a disability. That’s how easy it was to establish.

Well, except maybe a cleft palate.

Continue reading

Pitfall! Coverart.png
A few months ago, I was waxing poetic about plutonium, how to establish essential job functions, and quality-testing diet scrapple. What got into me?

Now, I’ve got a cautionary tale, in the form of a recent federal court opinion, to help you good folks navigate away from some of the Americans with Disabilities Act traps. Lest you like litigation and lawyer bills.

Woo hoo! Continue reading

Sobriety checkpoint easthaven ct

By Versageek (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Alcoholism can be a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The EEOC notes here that the ADA may protect a “qualified” alcoholic who can meet the definition of “disability.” What is a “qualified” alcoholic? Someone who can perform the essential functions of the job with or without accommodation.

Allowing an alcoholic to attend AA to remain clean and sober? That works.

But, accommodating an alcoholic who “falls off the wagon,” gets a DUI, and needs time off from work because he is incarcerated? Not so much.

Continue reading

“Doing What’s Right – Not Just What’s Legal”
Contact Information