On May 28, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission updated its COVID-19 “Technical Assistance Questions and Answers” for employers to provide additional guidance on vaccination policies. While the update does not...more
Last week, a client asked a timely and interesting question. The employer asked whether it can begin charging higher group health insurance premiums to employees who have declined the COVID-19 vaccination....more
Last week, federal legislation intended to clarify and expand protections for pregnant employees passed the House of Representatives. The Pregnancy Workers Fairness Act has been introduced each term since 2012, but this year...more
If disabled employees are no longer able to perform the essential functions of their job even with reasonable accommodation, under the Americans with Disabilities Act the employer must consider transferring the workers to an...more
5/7/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability ,
Dismissals ,
Employee Transfers ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Essential Functions ,
Failure to Accommodate ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remand ,
Reversal
As more businesses move toward ending remote working arrangements, we have had a number of questions from clients with regard to employee requests to continue working from home for medical reasons. The employees cite a...more
Over the past several years, plaintiffs lawyers have started a cottage industry that threatens and/or sues businesses on a class action basis using a named disabled person who alleges that he or she was unable to access the...more
Title VII requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to allow employees to work in ways compatible with their religious beliefs and practices. However, for decades, federal courts have interpreted this obligation...more
The above question may be the most frequent one we have encountered from employers in the past several weeks. As more COVID-19 vaccines become available, employers are increasingly curious about the number of their employees...more
Most U.S. employers have implemented some form of employee mask mandate in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The likely issuance of a federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration emergency COVID-19 safety standard...more
In the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2002 Barnett decision, the court held that qualified disabled employees are entitled to reassignment to an existing vacant position under the Americans with Disabilities Act if they become unable...more
It may seem like a lifetime ago, but the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) has only been in effect since March. Just as employers have become comfortable with the law’s paid leave and other provisions, FFCRA is...more
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with protected disabilities. Another part of the ADA requires employers to refrain from discriminating against disabled...more
11/6/2020
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Appeals ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remand ,
Reversal
Last week, North Carolina entered into phase three of its COVID-19 reopening process. As more businesses try to resume normal operations, a number of clients have asked about employees who express continuing concerns over...more
We occasionally receive questions from employers about employees who have threatened or even attempted suicide. While these issues first involve making sure that the employee is safe and receiving appropriate care, questions...more
Truck drivers and some related workers differ from other employees in that they are subject to federal Department of Transportation safety rules that require medical examinations and disqualify workers with certain medical...more
Under Title VII, employers are required to provide reasonable accommodations to employees who request work modifications for religious observances. However, following a 1977 U.S. Supreme Court decision, federal courts have...more
The Americans with Disabilities Act restricts employers’ ability to require employee medical evaluations to situations where such exams are job related and consistent with business necessity. This month, the Fourth Circuit...more
As employers begin formulating return-to-work plans, one step under consideration is workplace testing of employees for COVID-19. While such tests are not widely available yet, these plans have raised questions regarding...more
In 2009 in response to the H1N1 outbreak, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a publication titled Pandemic Preparedness in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act. On March 21, the EEOC updated...more
In recent years, federal courts have increasingly split over whether obesity in and of itself is a qualifying medical condition under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The EEOC and some courts have concluded that obesity...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
3/11/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Essential Functions ,
Interactive Process ,
Popular ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Reversal
Some of the most frequent questions we receive from employers involve managing the performance of employees with medical issues. While employers understand their nondiscrimination obligations under the Americans with...more
3/6/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Best Management Practices ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Discipline ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Poor Job Performance ,
Summary Judgment
As an alternative to termination, employers faced with employee drug or alcohol policy violations sometimes want to give that person a second chance. Typically, this process involves a commitment by the employee to seek...more
In recent years, a number of federal courts have drawn differing conclusions with regard to whether obesity is a protected disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. While some courts have reached this conclusion,...more
2/12/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dismissals ,
Obesity ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
State and Local Government ,
Summary Judgment ,
WA Supreme Court
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