Disability

What the EEOC plans to tell employers about wellness programs

November 26, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is obsessed with wellness programs.

Or, as the EEOC likes to describe them “‘so-called’ wellness programs.” And not in a “yay, so-called wellness programs are super” kinda way.

No, in recent months, the EEOC has initiated litigation against companies (example, example, example) claiming that they violate the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Genetic Information Non-Disclosure Act by both requiring medical examination and penalizing employees who decline to participate.

Accommodating a disabled employee generally does not require displacing another

November 7, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that companies provide a reasonable accommodation to an employee with a disability, if doing so will allow the employee to perform the essential functions of the job.

The ADA contemplates a number of different types of reasonable accommodations. One such accommodation is a transfer into an open position for which the disabled employee is qualified. But what happens when there is no vacancy. Must an employer bump another non-disabled employee to accommodate the one with the disability?

As an Ohio federal court reminds us in this recent opinion that the answer is no, unless special circumstances exist:

85,000 reasons to nix inflexible employee-leave policies

November 5, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Just go ahead, and kill them dead!

But before I get to that, I want to quickly plug our free event next week on November 12, 2014. I’ll give you four reasons to attend:

Chai R. Feldblum, Commissioner, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Richard F. Griffin, Jr., General Counsel, National Labor Relations Board

Harry I. Johnson, III, Board Member, National Labor Relations Board

Free breakfast

Sure, I’ll be on the panel too, but do any of you really want to see me? Besides, I wouldn’t want to destroy the mystique of our intimate blogger-reader relationship? I imagine many of you now breathless, picturing an erudite, chiseled, scholar; the blogging prose~~, typos, and grammar mistakes~~ dripping from my two-typing fingers, as I….I’ll stop talking now.

Details on the event are here. A few tickets still remain. RSVP fast!

After the jump, back to reality. Kill! Kill! Kill! (the policies…)

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Under the ADA, is talking an essential job function for an HR Specialist?

November 3, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Whether a department of many, or just one, your job as an HR professional has you juggling many balls. You’re running an open enrollment, conducting a workplace investigation, recruiting, wage-setting. Cot’ damn, you’re busy!

To get those tasks done, you’d better have the gift of gab.

Or not.

Is verbal communication an essential function for a Human Resources Specialist? A federal court just examined this question under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Click through for the answer…

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HR CHEATSHEET: When an employee texts you from an Ebola quarantine tent

October 29, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Five minutes ago, after taking the obligatory selfies and between games of Candy Crush, one of your employees texted (because, calling in, as if!) from an Ebola quarantine tent to alert you that she will be out of work for 21 days, while under observation for Ebola.

As an employer, what are your obligations? What workplace laws are implicated?

And, of course, because half of you are thinking it, can you just fire her?

Because this post has nothing to do with clicks or SEO — nothing whatsoever — click through for the answers…

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Tweet today with the EEOC about the Americans with Disabilities Act #EEOC4NDEAM

October 28, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

I’ll be at the SHRM Lehigh Valley Annual Conference today presenting “What’s Hot at the EEOC…and How to Avoid Getting Burned!” with the EEOC’s Mary Tiernan.

If you’re at the conference, stop by ~~with pizza and beer~~ and say hello with pizza and beer.

However, if you can’t make it, ~~Domino’s delivers~~, and you still want to get your Equal Employment Opportunity learn on, then there’s this from the from the EEOC:

Court gives cold shoulder to frostbite as an ADA disability

October 23, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

See that lede right there! That’s journalism, baby!

After the jump, let’s talk about what it means to have a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendment Act.

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Remember that a duty to accommodate may exist after childbirth

October 7, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Seems one employer may not have received the memo. Now, the EEOC is taking aim. More on this and some tips for employers to avoid pregnancy-accommodation traps, after the jump…

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A company so concerned about an employee with cancer….it fired her?!?

September 19, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

That ain’t legal, yo.

I’ll tell you why after the jump…

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EEOC takes on fitness-for-duty medical releases; how to avoid the crosshairs.

September 10, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Congratulations!

Your fitness-for-duty employee medical examinations are job-related or consistent with business necessity. So, they pass muster under the Americans with Disabilities Act. But, what about the medical information you request from employees in connection with those exams?

Oh yeah, there’s that too…

Ask for too much info and you might you be violating not only the ADA, but also the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act.

Rut roh! More after the jump…

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