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Employment Law

Can workers demand remote work as a form of FMLA leave?

11/18/2024
Employees who are eligible for FMLA leave sometimes don’t want to take it because it’s unpaid. However, some have begun asking to take intermittent FMLA leave on a work-from-home basis, so they can care for a sick child or other close relative and still collect a paycheck. Must employers grant such a request? It’s tricky.

The PWFA litigation flood has arrived

11/13/2024
The EEOC has filed the first round of its Pregnant Workers Fairness Act lawsuits alleging interference with the legislation that requires employers to reasonably accommodate conditions related to pregnancy. If you haven’t yet read the regulations and changed your policies and practices to conform to the rules, there’s no time to lose.

“Why would you want to do a man’s job?”

11/13/2024
That’s one of the sexist questions the EEOC alleges Waste Industries—a solid waste removal, recycling and landfill service provider—repeatedly asked female job applicants. As a result, the company agreed to pay $3.1 million to settle the agency’s pattern-or-practice sex-discrimination claim.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder and the ADA

11/13/2024
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts and behaviors, and it can interfere with the ability to perform one’s job.

Ensure undesirable tasks aren’t assigned only to minorities

11/13/2024
Eleven Black employees of Peoples Gas of Chicago filed a lawsuit alleging they were victims of race discrimination when they were assigned to more dangerous neighborhoods.

Call a halt to ‘dead-naming’ of transgender employees

11/13/2024
Employers are responsible for stopping gender-based harassment. Remind supervisors that harassing transgender workers is a serious offense.

OK to place reasonable limits on religious accommodations

11/13/2024
Employers must reasonably accommodate employees’ religious needs, but there are limits.

Religious accommodation request? Here’s what not to ask

11/13/2024
After the Supreme Court’s Groff v. DeJoy religious-accommodation case that strictly limited when employers can turn down requests, some employers demanded details about professed religious beliefs and documentation that the request was based on their religion’s requirement. But that is backfiring as courts set strict standards on how much information employers can demand.

Making even a few ageist statements can land you in court

11/13/2024
Here’s a reminder that HR needs to train supervisors and managers on ageist attitudes and comments. Even one or two isolated comments that could be viewed as criticism based on an employee’s age can be enough to justify an Age Discrimination in Employment Act lawsuit if there are other indications of favoring the young.

Cover costs when employees use their own cars for business

11/11/2024
If your employees use their personal vehicles to conduct business on your behalf, here’s a warning: If you don’t reimburse them for the associated costs, you could be liable for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.