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Last week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed two separate lawsuits charging Denny’s Inc. and United Airlines with violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. In one case, the EEOC alleged that Denny’s, which operates over 500 restaurants in 30 states, violated the rights of disabled workers by maintaining a maximum medical leave […]
It may come as a surprise that employers can now be sued if co-workers harass an employee who has made a workplace complaint. A recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision has broadened the liability of employers for retaliation to include not just supervisors’ acts, but also the hostile conduct of other employees. We’ll offer […]
It’s important to be extra careful when evaluating the abilities of an employee who was previously injured and wants to come back to work. Unless you carefully consider the individual’s current skills and recent medical reports, deciding that the worker can’t perform certain tasks can expose you to an expensive discrimination lawsuit for erroneously regarding […]
You can impose height or weight restrictions for certain jobs as long as they’re necessary to the normal operation of your business and don’t burden one sex more heavily than the other. And it’s OK to set standards governing appearance and dress if they’re applied fairly to both men and women.
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires you to try to reach an accommodation in cases involving mental or physical disabilities by engaging in an “interactive process” with an employee. But a recent case involving United Airlines highlights several missteps to avoid—and some specific measures to take—to satisfy the ADA.
Although most employers are well aware that sexual harassment is a serious issue, supervisors sometimes don’t take other types of workplace harassment as seriously – even though the risks can be just as great. In one recent case, for example, United Airlines found itself on the hook for nearly $3 million in damages after a […]
A number of cases in recent years have raised the thorny issue of whether the Americans With Disabilities Act protects workers whose disabilities don’t necessarily affect them at work because they take medication or use corrective devices. Now, in a trio of important new decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned the Equal Employment Opportunity […]