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In response to the highly publicized corporate accounting scandals involving Enron, WorldCom and a host of other companies, President Bush recently signed into law the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, creating tougher new rules for auditing and financial disclosures at publicly traded companies and for protecting shareholders’ interests. The new law also has some serious implications—including both civil […]
The U.S. Department of Labor has launched http://www.disabilityinfo.gov/, a new online resource to promote disability awareness. The site is a collaborative effort across multiple federal agencies and includes information on employment, health care and other topics. It contains a resource section for employers, with guidance on legal responsibilities regarding disabled employees and applicants and links to […]
According to a new report from the federal General Accounting Office, employer surveillance of employees’ Internet, e-mail or other computer activities doesn’t appear to have changed since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The study involved interviews with executives at 14 Fortune 100 companies. While all of the companies stored employee e-mail […]
Mix-ups with leave-related paperwork can bring on expensive headaches, as one employer recently discovered. Sam Duty, a mechanic and welder at Norton-Alcoa Proppants, injured his neck at work and took seven months of medical leave. But eventually a dispute erupted when it turned out that an error in the company’s FMLA paperwork gave Duty more […]
Gary Ross was offered a job as a lead systems administrator for RagingWire Telecommunications in Sacramento. In connection with taking a mandatory pre-employment drug test, Ross gave the company a copy of his medical prescription for marijuana, which he used to alleviate pain from an old back injury. Ross also told RagingWire that he wouldn’t […]
Kim Pesky, a marketer for Stamford, Conn.-based Cendant Corp., took time off under state and federal family leave laws to care for her new baby. The project she was working on at the time her family leave began was purchased by another company, so the job she had left in effect no longer existed. Management […]
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has published a practical new guide to the Americans with Disabilities Act. The guide is geared toward small employers, but contains useful information regardless of employer size. Topics covered include: who is protected; avoiding mistakes during interviews; what questions you can ask about a medical condition; and more. For a […]
The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad Company will pay $2.2 million to settle a genetic testing lawsuit filed by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC charged that Burlington Northern conducted genetic testing as part of a medical exam required of employees who had filed work-related carpal tunnel syndrome claims. Burlington Northern agreed […]
Most employers know they need to consider a disabled worker’s request for reasonable accommodations, which could include reassignment to another job. But does an employee’s demand for a particular accommodation trump your seniority rules? Not in most cases, according to a new U.S. Supreme Court decision that brings needed clarity to this question. But the […]
Typically, workers’ compensation is the only remedy for an employee who is injured on-the-job. But a California Court of Appeal now says that if the injury stems from your not reasonably accommodating an employee’s disability, the employee can bypass workers’ comp and sue you for damages. Disabled Employee Injured At Work Marilyn Bagatti was an […]