Job Description Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make
HR Law 101 Ep.4: What You Need to Know About Creating Effective Job Descriptions
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a summary judgment award on an employee’s failure-to-accommodate claim. The Court’s decision focused on the employer’s improperly narrow delineation of the...more
Many employers have experienced an increase in employee requests for accommodations in the past few years. A federal jury’s recent award in Lisa Menninger v. PPD Development L.P. reminds employers that accommodation requests,...more
In a case that helps employers understand what a “reasonable accommodation” is, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a lower court’s ruling of summary judgment for a Georgia employer who was accused of...more
Your job descriptions may be more important than you think, and what better time to review and update them than the start of the new year? In this blog, we discuss why job descriptions are important and the things to consider...more
Artificial intelligence (AI) can help streamline business processes making workers more efficient and driving costs down for the consumer. What happens, though, when an employer uses AI in hiring decisions?...more
After nearly two years of having the flexibility to work from home, it’s not hard to understand why many employees are reluctant to return to the “old ways” of business casual attire, hour-long commutes, and five days per...more
There is no exhaustive list of potentially reasonable accommodations. Whether an accommodation is reasonable will depend on the unique circumstances of each instance, including the particular employee’s limitations and...more
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, if an employee with a disability requests accommodation, the employer must work with that person to determine if there are reasonable measures that can be taken that allow the...more
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has published guidance addressing various issues related to employment law and COVID-19. On September 8, 2020, the EEOC posted updates, which...more
Earlier this month, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released two new documents addressing concerns about the employment provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and opioid use. Employers...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Athleisure company is rightfully able to terminate the employment of individual with physical limitations, despite that individual’s ability to delegate such functions of her position. See Tonyan v....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On March 27, 2020, the EEOC announced its views on the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the EEOC provided guidance on how laws under its jurisdiction, such as the ADA, Title VII, and GINA, should be...more
On February 24, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina issued an opinion in Brown v. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. regarding disability discrimination, reasonable accommodations, and...more
In order to claim discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act, employees must demonstrate that they could perform the essential functions of the job but were denied a reasonable accommodation. Some employers...more
From time to time, we encounter requests from employees for accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act that appear unrelated to the employee’s underlying medical condition. For example, an employee with a back...more
A North Carolina federal trial court recently denied an employer’s request to dismiss a former employee’s disability discrimination and retaliation claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). The case provides a...more
I get this call pretty frequently. A client wants know whether it should accommodate an employee by allowing the employee to telecommute or work remotely. The answer, in typical attorney fashion, is "it depends." And it does....more
On December 6, 2019, the New Jersey Appellate Division in V. L. v. Hunterdon Healthcare et. al., reversed and remanded a trial court’s order dismissing an employee’s claims of disability discrimination and retaliatory...more
If asked to describe the essential functions of a given job, most employers would include actually showing up to work as a critical component. In recent years the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has taken the position...more
On October 29, 2019, a panel of Seventh Circuit Appellate Court Judges held that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does not cover alleged discrimination based on future impairments. Shell v. Burlington N. Santa Fe Ry....more
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), an employee is entitled to a reasonable accommodation if the employee has a disability and is a “qualified individual,” meaning that the employee can perform the essential...more
Athletic Apparel Manufacturer Fired Temporary Employee Because of Her Disabilities, Federal Agency Charges - BYHALIA, Miss. - ASICS America Corporation (ASICS), a manufacturer of athletic footwear and accessories,...more
It was a close call, but a court recently denied an employee’s Americans with Disabilities Act claim that her employer had improperly refused a request to continue working from home as an accommodation. With the growth of...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a 2-1 decision in Bilinsky v American Airlines, Inc., 2019 WL 2610944 (7th Cir. June 26, 2019), the Seventh Circuit recently affirmed American Airlines’ summary judgment win against a former employee who...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Sometimes even the best employees can have their woebegone days. How is an employer to distinguish between (1) a mental disability that may require accommodation and (2) a case of someone “having the...more