When an employee requests an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act, this sets into motion an interactive process intended to determine whether the requested accommodation is both reasonable and effective....more
Recently, we have seen an unusual spike in client situations involving legal claims associated with discipline or discharge of employees who engage in threatening or disruptive behavior in the workplace....more
Employers sometimes believe that eliminating a job position instead of terminating an employee for poor performance gives them a "get out of jail free" card for purposes of avoiding legal claims associated with the decision....more
5/2/2025
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Termination
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order barring federal agencies from investigating or prosecuting employment discrimination using the disparate impact concept. Most discrimination claims allege that an...more
4/25/2025
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Disparate Impact ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Government Agencies ,
Government Investigations ,
Protected Class ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration ,
Workplace Investigations
Recently we had a client pose an interesting question about providing accommodations to disabled temporary workers. A temp agency referred a worker to its client, but advised the client that the worker had requested certain...more
4/18/2025
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Data Privacy ,
Data-Sharing ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Joint Employers ,
PHI ,
Privacy Laws ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Staffing Agencies ,
Temporary Employees
The Americans with Disabilities Act defines a protected qualified individual as one who can perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodations. ...more
The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits employers from requiring employee medical examinations absent business necessity. The ADA provides a back pay remedy for violations, but limits these damages to discrimination on...more
4/4/2025
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Back Pay ,
Damages ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Medical Examinations
Most human resource professionals can attest to meeting with employees who state that they are struggling with anxiety issues that affect their work performance. ...more
The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits employers from asking most applicants questions about their medical history before a conditional offer of employment is made....more
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that could have significant impacts on employee retiree medical insurance plans. In Stanley v. City of Sanford, a retired city employee alleges that Sanford’s...more
When reviewing an employee’s request for accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers sometimes develop tunnel vision when deciding whether the claimed medical condition constitutes a protected ADA...more
1/17/2025
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appellate Courts ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employee Rights ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Mental Health ,
PTSD ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues
With the transition to the new administration in Washington taking place later this month, how could this change affect the enforcement priorities of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission? These priorities shift every...more
Following a "cause" finding in an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge of discrimination investigation, the agency issues a right to sue letter to the charging party or agrees to sue the employer on that person’s...more
When considering accommodations requested by an employee due to a disability, employers sometimes fail to think through the long-term effects of such changes. In many cases, the accommodation request is permanent, meaning...more
When reading case law involving litigation over Americans with Disabilities Act claims, one could be convinced that the workplace is a constant battleground between employees seeking excessive accommodations and employers...more
We recently had a client forward a note from a professional counselor sent on behalf of an employee. The note said that the employee had been diagnosed with anxiety and depression, and that it would help if the employer...more
The Family and Medical Leave Act does not require employers to allow qualified employees to work remotely. While such requests may fall under the Americans with Disabilities Act’s reasonable accommodation obligation, the FMLA...more
We previously reported a growing number of questions from employers involving employees who have tested positive for marijuana and who claimed the positive test resulted from their use of legal CBD products. Last week, the...more
Last month, we reported on a decision from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes Tennessee) concluding that an employee’s asthma did not constitute a protected disability under the Americans with Disabilities...more
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw a number of federal court decisions involving disability discrimination claims from teachers who requested full-time remote work as an accommodation for compromised immune systems or other...more
In 2008, Congress amended the Americans with Disabilities Act to expand the definition of medical conditions that qualify for protections under that statute. The amendments resulted from a number of federal court decisions...more
Last week, we reported a federal appellate decision finding that an employee who insisted on working remotely failed to demonstrate a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act because he would not consider alternative...more
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), employers are required to provide reasonable accommodations to disabled workers, but not necessarily the accommodation favored by the employee. ...more
When a disabled employee requests a workplace accommodation, the Americans with Disabilities Act instructs the employer to determine whether the requested accommodation (or an alternative) allows the employee to perform the...more
When consulting with employers regarding employee accommodation requests under the Americans with Disabilities Act, we frequently hear concerns that granting a requested accommodation will likely result in coworkers making...more