DE Under 3: Vaccine Mandates & More
The Transformation of Education in Florida
School District Update Podcast: Hiring H-1B Teachers in 2021-2022
They Said What? First Amendment Issues in 2020
COVID School Landscape
Leadership in the Time of COVID
BLACK HISTORY MONTH | ELLA BAKER & MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE
In a recent Second Circuit decision from March, Tudor v. Whitehall Central School District, the court clarified the broad scope of workplace accommodation protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)....more
Take note, employers: if your decision to accommodate a qualified employee with a disability is solely based on necessity, you may be inviting unnecessary legal exposure. ...more
Interesting decision this week from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. A high school math teacher (we’ll call her “Ms. Plantagenet”) had post-traumatic stress disorder. Years earlier, her...more
Federal Investigation Found School District Discharged Teacher Because of Age - FRESNO, Calif. – The Washington Unified School District, located in Fresno, Calif., settled a federal charge of age discrimination filed with...more
The Seventh Circuit’s recent decision – holding that an employee’s request for a second chance that allows them to change their behavior to meet employer expectations is not a “reasonable accommodation” under the ADA –...more
A school district in Texas recently prevailed in a failure-to-hire lawsuit when the court ruled that a legally blind applicant for a teaching position could not demonstrate that she’d have been able to manage student...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
As you recover from another whirlwind of a school year, we hope you can take some time to relax and enjoy your summer break. The next few months will be the perfect time to – at your leisure – catch up on this past year’s...more
In today’s world, countless individuals suffer from anxiety in its various forms. According to the World Health Organization, in 2019, 301 million people in the world had an anxiety disorder, which makes anxiety disorders...more
Last month, we reported a First Circuit Court of Appeals decision that rejected an Americans with Disabilities Act claim brought by a teacher who was denied an extended leave of absence for recovery from surgery. The court...more
On November 7, 2023, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts’ dismissal of a teacher’s suit against her former employer, Austin...more
In last week’s EmployNews, we discussed a growing trend of employees basing requests for remote work on mental or physical disabilities, and therefore requesting accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act. In...more
The October 2022 release of the Department of Education’s resource for students and schools on Discrimination Based on Pregnancy and Related Conditions reminds Title IX Coordinators of their responsibility to address all...more
The pandemic has affected all aspects of daily life over the past few years and brought mental health awareness to the forefront of employee-related concerns. In addition to taking a heightened interest in student well-being,...more
We recently provided our predictions for what education employers could expect to see in the area of workplace law over the next year as part of our FP Forecast series – but we had too many insights to fit into that edition....more
In Illinois, as universal masking is fading, the next question looms: what will the end of universal masking mean for staff and students with disabilities who are at high risk? Across the county, issues regarding universal...more
Educational institutions across the country are facing an upcoming compliance deadline as the mandate-or-test workplace vaccine emergency rule will soon take effect (pending the outcome of ongoing litigation). The rule will...more
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes for the past few years—and this past month...more
A year after COVID-19 shuttered doors and opened a new world of online remote learning, K-12 schools, colleges, and universities are facing an increase in the number and type of student accommodation requests. The 2020 shift...more
As the new school year approaches, school districts are seeing requests to work remotely during the upcoming school year from employees who report being at high-risk of serious illness if they contract COVID-19....more
The risk of coronavirus may be lower than the flu, but with the numbers of cases and fatalities growing in China and a handful of cases in the United States, some are calling for schools, colleges, and universities to take...more
The need to consider Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodations can happen at any time during the employment relationship. Generally, an employee will ask for an accommodation before problems with performance...more
Sometimes employers face requests for reasonable accommodation that do not cost much, but which would materially interfere with the employee’s ability to get their work done. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA),...more
The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (“DFEH”) recently obtained a settlement on behalf of a custodian for a school district who was fired after an on-the-job injury. As part of the settlement, the...more
Act I: The Problem - Jason is a veteran middle school math teacher who has been in the classroom for more than twenty years. He has never been a strong teacher. The principal who worked with him for the bulk of his...more