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ADA

Internet Addiction Disorder: The Newest Disability?

01/09/2013

The DSM-5, the official psychiatrist’s diagnostic manual, has accepted Internet addiction disorder for inclusion, albeit in a section devoted to conditions that require further research. What does this mean for your workplace? If Internet addiction is a psychiatric disorder, then employees who suffer from it may be protected by the ADA. This development has potentially significant implications for your workplace …

ADA: Don’t let procedural hurdles stop accommodations process

01/09/2013
Employees with disabilities have the right to request reasonable ADA accommodations. Punishing them for making such a request can be grounds for a retaliation lawsuit—even if no accommodations were possible or due.

After FMLA ends, consider offering more leave

01/03/2013
Do you have a draconian FMLA leave policy that requires automatic termination for employees who use up their entitlement before being cleared to return to work? If so, you’re playing with fire.

Beware ADA claims if alleged victim isn’t satisfied with harassment investigation

12/30/2012

Some sexual harassment complaints don’t pan out. If, after investigating, you conclude that no harassment took place, the employee who complained may not be satisfied. How should you handle her? Your best bet is to address her concerns about having to work around the alleged harasser.

Asking for workers’ comp isn’t ADA-protected

12/19/2012
The ADA protects disabled em­­ployees from retaliation for claiming their right to accommodation and freedom from discrimination. But it’s sometimes tough to prove disability under the ADA, requiring a fairly serious medical condition.

What are our obligations to smell-sensitive employee and her co-workers?

12/18/2012
Q. Our office of about 30 people has been “asked” to stop using perfume and any other type of product that contains a fragrance because one employee claims those smells “bother” her. Everyone else feels this unfairly restricts the freedoms of the majority. Is there any legal backing to either side of this debate?

What Obama administration’s second term means for employers

12/18/2012
With President Obama taking the oath of office this month, employers are wondering what his second term will mean for them. Here is a sampling of the issues.

Caregiver leave: Was this firing disability discrimination?

12/12/2012
A refusal to grant time off as an accommodation for the disability of an employee’s family member will only pass muster for employers too small to be covered by the FMLA or employees who did not work long enough to be eligible for FMLA leave.

Dallas silkscreener settles ADA complaint

12/03/2012
Dallas-based DuPriest and Sons Holding will pay $24,000 to settle EEOC charges that it violated the ADA when it laid off a longtime employee after he informed his supervisor he would need regular kidney dialysis.

Rite-Aid, ex-worker settle disability lawsuit for $250K

12/03/2012
The Camp Hill-based Rite-Aid drug store chain will pay $250,000 to settle a disability discrimination and retaliation complaint filed by an epileptic former worker at one of its Maryland facilities.