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ADA

Insist on more than just diagnosis when employee claims ADA serious condition

02/12/2009

Some employees mistakenly believe that, just because they have been diagnosed with a serious condition, they are disabled and entitled to an accommodation. Employers can and should analyze the claimed disability to see whether it really substantially impairs one of the employee’s major life functions. The diagnosis alone is not enough. It’s just the starting point.

Ensure supervisors understand importance of documenting accommodations process

02/05/2009

The ADA requires employers to reasonably accommodate disabled employees and applicants. To decide what those accommodations will be, both sides are supposed to engage in an interactive process. If that process breaks down, a court will try to determine who was responsible for the impasse—and good records are key to winning that fight.

You can make disabled comply with dress, behavior standards

02/05/2009

Good news when it comes to disciplining disabled employees for breaking behavioral or dress code rules: You can and should hold the disabled to those rules, along with everyone else.

Begin accommodations process after job offer

02/02/2009

Many disabled applicants choose not to reveal their disabilities during the selection process and don’t reveal the need for reasonable accommodations until after they have been offered a job. Don’t ignore that request, or you could wind up in court for violating the ADA.

What should we do? Employee wants a transfer as a reasonable accommodation

02/02/2009

Q. One of our employees recently developed a condition that makes it difficult for her to perform the essential functions of her job. She has asked to be transferred to a job she can perform. Are we obligated to do this?

Use job ratings to counter disability claims

01/27/2009

Here’s another reason why it’s so important to continually document employee performance. If an employee who quits later says she did so because you didn’t accommodate her disability, you may be able to show that she could in fact do her job without accommodations.

Understand the North Carolina Persons with Disabilities Protection Act

01/27/2009

North Carolina law has long protected disabled North Carolinians from discrimination. The North Carolina Persons with Disabilities Protection Act was originally called the Handicapped Persons Protection Act and became law in 1985. The act is broad in scope, and many of its protections apply directly to employment matters.

Boss makes employee sick? That’s no disability

01/27/2009

If every employee who got depressed or anxious after receiving a poor performance review or trying to satisfy a demanding boss could sue, the courts would have little time for anything else. That may be one reason that courts have been rejecting ADA cases based on stress and anxiety brought on by work conditions.

Understand NJLAD’s broad definition of ‘handicapped’

01/27/2009

Don’t make the mistake of assuming that someone who isn’t disabled under the ADA also isn’t disabled under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. The fact is, the NJLAD is far more generous in its definition.

Senate begins confirming Obama’s HR-related Cabinet nominees

01/21/2009

Expect swift confirmation of President Obama’s nominees to head the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security, Labor and Justice. And expect the Obama administration to take a far harder line than the Bush administration did against organizations that break employment-related laws.