As everyone in Human Resources knows by now, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) requires employers to reasonably accommodate employees because of pregnancy and conditions related to pregnancy. In case you missed it, we...more
5/8/2025
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Compliance ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Reasonable Accommodation
In early April 2025, the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recognized that employers could be held liable for monetary damages and other relief for violating the medical inquiry and examination limitations of the...more
President Donald Trump’s “Return to In-Person Work” executive order (EO) mandates that federal employees return to full-time office work. This EO effectively ended the widespread hybrid and remote work arrangements that had...more
2/12/2025
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Labor Reform ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Trump Administration
What does the EEOC have to do with smart watches, rings, glasses, helmets and other devices that track bodily movement and other data? These devices, known as “wearables,” can track location, brain activity, heart rate, and...more
1/21/2025
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Discrimination ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Smart Devices ,
Technology Sector ,
Title VII ,
Tracking Systems
Wait — why is my favorite employment law blog detouring into the world of website accessibility? If your business has a website, keep reading. If you read our blog regularly, you probably recall a few posts about website...more
With the passage of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), the law on how you accommodate pregnant workers changed last June, and we blogged about it. Then the EEOC issued extensive regulations last August, and we blogged...more
6/21/2024
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Employee Rights ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Labor Reform ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Regulatory Agenda
What accommodations are reasonable under the ADA? Employers are required to provide modifications or adjustments that enable a job applicant to be considered for a position. Beyond the application process, employers must also...more
Does it seem like you are dealing with more mental health issues in your workforce? If so, you are not alone. Recent mental health claim statistics show an alarming increase in chronic illnesses since the pandemic. For adults...more
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities. To help determine effective accommodations, employers should use an “interactive...more
If an individual’s disability causes involuntary racist or profane utterances, what would a reasonable accommodation under the ADA look like? In Cooper v. Dolgencorp, LLC, the Sixth Circuit faced just such an inquiry....more
Nearly a year ago, we reported that the United States Supreme Court was planning to hear a case—Acheson Hotels v. Laufer—on whether “tester” plaintiffs in ADA accessibility cases have standing to sue, including in the...more
2023 has brought many updates and changes to the legal landscape. Our blog posts have covered many of them, but you may not remember (or care to remember) them. Before moving on to 2024, let’s take a moment to review our top...more
12/29/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Exemptions ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Healthcare ,
Income Taxes ,
Over-Time ,
Paid Leave ,
Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”) ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Vaccinations
When is driving an essential function of a job? What if the employee drives herself to customers’ homes to provide services and now wants to use alternative modes of transportation? What if the employee’s request is because...more
Does the fact that an individual is disabled automatically make him a “qualified individual with a disability” under Title I of the ADA? In Stanley v. City of Sanford, Florida, the Eleventh Circuit said no....more
10/20/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Retaliation ,
Retirement ,
Title I ,
Title VII
Last week, on the 50th anniversary of the Rehabilitation Act — which prohibits disability discrimination by federal contractors and other programs receiving federal funds — the EEOC and Department of Labor issued a resource...more
10/5/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disabilities ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Contractors ,
New Guidance ,
OFCCP ,
Rehabilitation Act ,
Subcontractors
It’s time for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). We’ve been warning you that the PWFA is coming and in less than a week, on June 27, the PWFA goes into effect. We’re still waiting on the EEOC’s proposed regulations but...more
No-fault attendance policies may be on a watchlist for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
A recent matter before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, EEOC v. Eberspaecher North America Inc.,...more
Your employee requests a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) but you refuse to grant it. If the employee continues to perform their job, can the employee still sue you for refusing the...more
5/31/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Compensation ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability ,
Employee Training ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Failure to Accommodate ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Interpreters ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Reversal
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the best way to save time and make fair decisions — right? Not so fast. As AI is more common in our day-to-day lives, we have seen it make mistakes and replicate human shortcomings. For many it...more
5/26/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Automated Decision Systems (ADS) ,
Bots ,
Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Interviews ,
Job Applicants ,
Municipalities ,
State and Local Government ,
Technology Sector ,
Title VII
Do you have a “no fault” attendance policy or some other way in which employees get points for absences? If so, be careful. A recent Eleventh Circuit matter, EEOC v. Eberspaecher North America, Inc. suggests that the Equal...more
Can someone who has no intention of using your services or buying your products sue you because your website is not accessible? In Acheson Hotels v. Laufer, the United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case on whether...more
Mass shootings have been increasingly in the headlines in recent years, and many of these incidents have occurred in the workplace. Regardless of anyone’s politics, employers are having to face either the fear of, or the...more
4/13/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Employee Training ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Hostile Environment ,
Mass Shootings ,
Risk Management ,
Workplace Communication ,
Workplace Safety ,
Workplace Violence
You may recall that the Pregnant Works Fairness Act (PWFA) is modeled after the Americans with Disabilities Act and we blogged about the coming changes here. Given that the effective date is June 27, we’re back with an update...more
4/11/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Breastfeeding ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
New Legislation ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”) ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Title VII
Can you have a no pets at work policy? What if an employee has a service dog? What if it is an emotional support dog? As with all things legal (and ADA), it depends, and you should give some thought and engage in an...more
If you take on a federal contract, does that make you a state actor? No, according to a unanimous Sixth Circuit panel in Ciraci v. J.M. Smucker Company.
During World War II, the Army included Smucker’s apple butter in its...more
3/21/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Class Action ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Federal Contractors ,
First Amendment ,
Free Exercise Clause ,
GINA ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Exemption ,
Smuckers ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations