Most prosecutors will tell you that the cover-up is often worse than the underlying crime. This adage was again proven correct earlier this month when OSHA announced that the U.S. Department of Justice had obtained federal...more
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations that permit a disabled employee to perform the essential functions of his or her job. What happens, however, when an employer...more
Occupational Safety and Health Administration workplace inspections are often triggered by an employee injury or complaint. In such circumstances, OSHA rules only permit the inspector to investigate the workplace safety...more
10/17/2018
/ Chemicals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hazardous Substances ,
Manufacturers ,
Motions to Quash ,
OSHA ,
Probable Cause ,
Safety Inspections ,
Search Warrant ,
Workplace Hazards ,
Workplace Injury ,
Workplace Safety
In the hospitality industry, it is fairly common for a hotel to retain a management company to run housekeeping, food and beverage, and other functions. While the management company may supervise and direct the work of hotel...more
10/1/2018
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Harassment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotel Management Agreements ,
Hotels ,
Retaliation ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Title VII
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees from workplace harassment. As most employers know, these protections apply not only to behavior by co-workers and supervisors but also to harassment by customers,...more
The Americans with Disabilities Act sets forth the conditions under which employers can require medical examinations as a condition of hire. Last month, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an employer violated the...more
9/12/2018
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Medical Examinations ,
Screening Procedures
Most employers understand that with appropriate disclaimers, they have the right to monitor employee use of the company’s electronic communication systems. With that said, unhappy employees continue to attempt to use federal...more
In its 1998 Oncale decision, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that same-sex sexual harassment can violate Title VII’s gender discrimination prohibitions. However, the court noted that in order to demonstrate violation of the...more
Despite changes to the composition of the National Labor Relations Board over the past year, the NLRB’s position with regard to protection of employee social media discussions remains unchanged. Last month, the NLRB affirmed...more
Employers naturally have concerns over employee use of prescription or over-the-counter medications that could affect safe or effective performance of job duties. However, the Americans with Disabilities Act restricts...more
Over the past several years, we have reported an increasing number of federal appeals court decisions that have characterized even single instances of certain racial slurs as sufficient to constitute hostile environment...more
What should a Human Resources Department do in the following circumstance? An employee requests family and medical leave to care for a child with a serious health condition and is provided DOL forms, including the medical...more
Employees and their medical providers continue to come up with creative requests for accommodation of medical conditions under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Last month in an unpublished decision, the Sixth Circuit...more
The Americans with Disabilities Act is not an affirmative action law, meaning that employers are not required to hire or continue the employment of disabled persons who cannot perform essential job functions after reasonable...more
As anticipated, the losing employer in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals’ Zarda v. Altitude Express decision has filed a petition for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court. If accepted by the court, this case could...more
As with life in general, sometimes it’s best for a manager to keep frustrations over a work situation to himself or herself. This advice was confirmed in a recent decision from the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, when a...more
We typically avoid reporting on cases that involve procedural issues primarily of interest to trial lawyers. However, once in a while, a procedural decision can have significant impacts on how employers structure their human...more
When a current employee develops a disabling medical condition, employers are frequently faced with Americans with Disabilities Act accommodation requests that would fundamentally alter the way that the job has been...more
The legal line between race and national origin discrimination claims continues to fade as federal courts take an increasingly expansive definition of the term “race.” Last month in an unpublished decision, the Fourth Circuit...more
With all of the publicity over the Republican assumption of control of the National Labor Relations Board, employers could be excused if they assumed that all of the prior board’s decisions were now open for review and...more
The Family and Medical Leave Act does not apply to all employers or even all employees within a covered company. For example, if the employee works at a location with fewer than 50 employees within a 75-mile radius, that...more
Employers are not strictly liable for hostile environment sexual harassment by a victim’s co-workers. The employer may be held responsible under Title VII if it knew or should have known of the harassment and failed to take...more
A few years ago, the Jimmy John’s sandwich restaurant chain ran into problems over noncompetition agreements entered into with hourly workers at its franchisees’ stores. Several state attorneys general contended that...more
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employee compensation counted for purposes of fulfilling minimum wage and overtime obligations need not be paid all in cash. According to Section 203(m) of the FLSA, wages also include...more
Employers understand their obligation to engage in an interactive process to address accommodation requests made by disabled employees. How long does the employer have to reach a conclusion with regard to the accommodation...more
2/1/2018
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Constructive Discharge ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Ford Motor ,
Interactive Process ,
Military Service Members ,
PTSD ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Veterans