Employees with disabilities bring new, diverse perspectives and unique skills and talents to the workplace. Hiring people with disabilities is a win for everyone involved and brings value to teams in all industries. The first step to hiring more qualified…
Disability
Taking Legal Drugs to Fight Addiction Is Covered by the ADA
Folks, I’m warning you, this is a tough one. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, an employer must provide a reasonable accommodation (if available) to a qualified individual with a disability upon request if doing so will enable that person to…
What Can We Do About an Employee Showing Signs of Mental Decline?
Dear Littler: We have an employee who is exhibiting signs of dementia or some other sort of cognitive impairment. He has fallen asleep at work a few times recently and seems confused by tasks that did not pose any problem for…
ADA Won’t Protect Employee When Overtime Is Essential Part of the Job
Today, I’m going to revisit a topic that I’ve previously discussed a few times on the blog (here and here); namely, when is working overtime an essential job function under the Americans with Disabilities Act? The quick answer is: the employer decides when. But,…
‘Possibly’ Getting Ebola Is Not An ADA Disability
Back in May 2017, I wrote about an Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed against an employer. In its complaint, the EEOC alleged that the employer violated the ADA when it feared an employee’s travel would lead to…
Is a Leave Ever a Reasonable Accommodation Under the ADA?
Dear Littler: One of our key employees was injured in a serious car accident. She qualified for, and took, a full 12 weeks of leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to recover. She was supposed to return…
4 Tips to Help You Recruit People With Disabilities
Every business seeks improvement, whether that’s through bottom-line improvement or finding the best candidates to fill certain positions. Sometimes the two objectives go hand-in-hand, and actively seeking diverse candidates can help businesses improve both of these objectives. Diversifying your staff…
When Disaster Strikes, What Should and What Must An Employer Do?
Natural disasters leave visible signs of devastation everywhere: destroyed homes, flooded roads, damaged infrastructure, broken families and fractured communities. This has been especially evident in the impact of recent mega-storms like hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, as well as with…
What If You Asked ‘How Are You’ and Really Meant It?
What would you do if someone honestly answered that rhetorical greeting we all use, “How are you?” What if instead of “Fine” or “Good,” which is what convention requires, your coworker said, “I’m not feeling myself. If fact, I’m feeling…
Court Says Accommodation May Be Required After Giving Birth
A federal court just sent a warning shot to bosses: the effects of pregnancy don’t end at birth. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which covers Alabama, Georgia and Florida, affirmed a lower court holding that a…
EEOC Sues to Protect Recovering Addict
As the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s fiscal year was coming to a close, the agency filed a slew of discrimination lawsuits. One that caught my eye involves an employer that allegedly rescinded an offer of employment once it found out the…
After Hurricane Harvey, Here’s What Employers Must Do
Hurricane Harvey is relentlessly drenching southeast Texas and the surrounding areas, resulting in unprecedented flooding and damage. As the storm rages, many employers are wondering how to respond and what happens next. After the waters and dangers subside — and…
Court Sends Wellness Incentive Rules Back to EEOC
This week, a federal judge had some scathing words for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as he tossed back its rules on the wellness program incentives telling it to rethink the whole thing. Remind me: What are these incentive rules?…
Power Doesn’t Just Corrupt, It Can Rewire Your Brain
You’ve heard the expression, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” We’ve all suspected the truth of Lord Acton’s indictment and have witnessed the tone deaf boss emotionally obtuse to his effect on underlings. Now, a growing body…
Massachusetts Court Says Medical Marijuana Users Are Entitled to Accommodation
On July 17th, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court unanimously held that an employee may pursue a disability discrimination claim under state law against her former employer for failing to accommodate the employee’s use of medical marijuana. This is the first…
The ADA Says You Get to Decide What Job Functions Are ‘Essential’
About a year ago, I blogged here about a litigation attorney with the State of Louisiana. She has a “disability” under the Americans with Disabilities Act. On account of her illness, the U.S. Department of Justice accommodated the litigator by allowing her to telecommute from…
DisruptHR: “Stop seeing a disability, and start seeing a discoverability!”
Note: In partnership with DisruptHR, TLNT presents some of the best Disrupt presentations from events across North America and now the world. Disrupt talks are modeled on the TEDx concept: Short, to the point talks on all things HR —…
What Does the ADA Require For a Mental Health Episode At Work?
My skin crawls thinking about the Google search terms that will land some HR professionals on this post, which involves a failed suicide attempt. Hopefully, this is not a practice tip upon which you’ll need to draw in the course of…
A Quick Guide to Leaves As “Reasonable Accommodation”
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently issued the “Employer-Provided Leave and the Americans with Disabilities Act” guidance to help employers know when leaves of absences are considered reasonable accommodations for disabled employees. The EEOC advises employers to consider leaves of…
How a Good Job Description Helped An Employer Win
Since all of you have mastered reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, this post seems rather unnecessary. Oh, that’s weird. Why is there smoke billowing from my blog servers? Qualified individuals and essential job functions Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, an employer…