Employment Law

ADA: Regularly review essential job functions

10/23/2023

Under the ADA, disabled workers are entitled to reasonable accommodations that allow them to perform the essential functions of their jobs. But what is an essential function? That’s almost entirely up to the employer to determine. Courts will almost always defer to the employer’s criteria as long as the employer identifies what it considers essential in job postings and job descriptions.

How to accommodate employees affected by sleep disorders, insomnia

10/19/2023

Together with insomnia, many sleep disorders may qualify as both disabilities under the ADA (warranting reasonable accommodations) and serious health conditions under the FMLA (entitling employees to take blocks of leave or intermittent leave for treatment or rest)

ADA: Make medical inquiries after extending job offer

10/19/2023

The ADA bars employers from asking applicants about their medical histories before they are hired. However, it allows those inquiries after the employer has offered the job—and employees must be honest when they answer.

Think twice before demanding proof an employee’s religion requires accommodation

10/16/2023

Thanks to a series of employee-friendly court decisions, workers now have a far easier time winning lawsuits alleging their employers failed to accommodate their religious beliefs and practices. Employers are greatly limited in how far they can go to require employees to prove their religious beliefs and practices require accommodations.

Prepare now for possible strikes and walkouts

10/16/2023

Across industries and across the nation, workers are voicing their displeasure with poor working conditions and low pay at a time when prices are rising and corporate profits remain high. The issues prompting strikes vary: demands for higher pay, concerns over two-tiered pay systems and complaints about being forced to return to in-person work and inadequate staffing.

HR needs to know: New guidance explains how EEOC plans to enforce anti-harassment law

10/13/2023

The EEOC has released proposed guidance explaining how its investigators and lawyers should handle workplace harassment claims the commission receives. That means it’s critical for smart HR pros, employers and their attorneys to get familiar with it, too.

With war breaking out in the Middle East, beware harassment based on religion here in the U.S.

10/11/2023

The Oct. 7 attack by Hamas against Israel has raised the possibility that antisemitism and other forms of religious bias could break out here in the United States. As an employer, you have a responsibility to ensure your workplace remains free of hate speech and actions motivated by hate.

Male-dominated industry? Expect stepped-up EEOC enforcement

10/06/2023

Many women have begun seeking jobs in male-dominated industries because they tend to pay more and offer better benefits than jobs that traditionally attract women. However, an influx of female applicants has triggered backlash in some workplaces. The EEOC has taken notice.

EEOC litigation surged to 5-year high in FY 2023

10/06/2023

The fiscal year 2023 lawsuit filings—known as merit filings—included 25 systemic lawsuits, almost double the number filed in each of the previous three fiscal years and the largest number of systemic filings in the past five years.

Take the easy way out on most requests for disability accommodations

10/02/2023

There’s a right way and a wrong way to respond to a disabled employee’s request for a reasonable accommodation. When an accommodation would cost little or nothing to provide, the right way is usually obvious to most employers. Then there’s the wrong way, as this case shows.