Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
In attempting to assess the complicated balance between an individual employee’s need for a service animal and the requirements of clients, customers, patients, and the workplace as a whole, the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose rulings apply to all Iowa employers) has weighed in over the last several months with discussions in two […]
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with a disability. When employees request an accommodation, employers are required to engage in an interactive dialogue with them to determine whether the requested accommodation is reasonable and aimed at assisting the employees in performing their position’s essential functions. Employers […]
The COVID-19 pandemic opened the floodgates for requests to work remotely as a disability or pregnancy accommodation under state and federal law. Many employers have been unsure how to handle such requests, and there hasn’t been much guidance from the courts on the topic. But that’s changing. Here’s what one Illinois appellate court has to […]
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Massachusetts General Law Chapter 151B (Chapter 151B) both require employers to provide reasonable accommodations absent undue hardship to employees and to engage in an interactive dialogue with those who need a reasonable accommodation. Employers that fail to do so face legal liability. The recent jury verdict in Menninger […]
The character of Maya Lopez (a/k/a Echo) was first introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Hawkeye as the leader of the Track Suit Mafia, the crime syndicate run by Wilson Fisk. After Maya learns her father was killed on Fisk’s orders, Maya leaves the syndicate and shoots Fisk. Echo starts a few months later […]
We all know the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid medical leave to care for a serious medical condition of the employee or the employee’s family member. Despite the fact the FMLA is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, employers are still grappling with its […]
When an employee comes to you with a proposed job modification to accommodate a health condition, consider the requested accommodation. But remember: You can offer a different accommodation that addresses the employee’s health condition but doesn’t pose the operational challenges the employee’s requested accommodation would cause. That’s the route UPS took with one of its […]
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires employers to engage in an interactive, good-faith process to determine if reasonable accommodations can be made for disabled employees that would allow them to perform the essential functions of the job. A recent case decided by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals (which has jurisdiction over North Carolina) […]
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose rulings cover Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi) shocked employers out of the summer doldrums with a new opinion issued on June 28, 2023. In a 2-1 vote, it declared that remote work or commuter assistance for an employee in the Houston area can be a reasonable accommodation under […]
Before March 2020, courts frequently rejected claims by workers who said they should be allowed to work from home as an accommodation for a disability. Judges routinely concluded that on-site attendance—coming into the physical workplace—was an “essential job function” and that working from home wasn’t a “reasonable accommodation” that employers had a duty to offer […]