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Employment Law

As employer, you get to choose and implement your preferred disability accommodations

03/13/2024
Employers and disabled employees must engage in an “interactive process” to determine what accommodations will allow employees to perform the essential functions of their jobs. If more than one might work, the employer gets to pick which one to implement. Once that’s done, the employer has met its ADA obligations, even if the employee refuses the accommodation.

Labor lessons: Takeaways from 2023, a record-setting year for strikes

03/13/2024
There were 33 major strikes in 2023, according to new figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s the most in almost a quarter-century. It’s a sign that workers still believe they have the upper hand in an economy that has defied the odds and has not slipped into a recession.

Ensure all pre-employment qualification tests are specific to the job and your needs

03/11/2024
Once you have made a job offer, you can only require physical qualification tests that are job-related and consistent with business necessity. The rule is designed to ensure that tests don’t have a disparate negative impact on members of protected classes.

Require HR to review all religious accommodation requests

03/11/2024
Last June’s Groff v. DeJoy Supreme Court decision essentially requires employers to grant almost all employee requests for religious accommodations unless doing so would create an undue burden. Do not allow supervisors to make those decisions on their own. Once HR makes an accommodation plan, do not allow supervisors to deviate from it.

Limit liability from data breaches that expose employee info

03/11/2024
Imagine this nightmare scenario: You’ve contracted with a vendor to enter personnel data into a new computer system. You hand over confidential employee info, including Social Security numbers, addresses, names of dependents, health records and bank account routing numbers. Then the vendor notifies you that the employee information was somehow stolen. What will you do? It happens more often than anyone would like to admit.

Small employers in EEOC’s crosshairs: Ensure owners understand age-bias rules

03/08/2024
If you’re an HR professional working for a small business, make sure all employees—including senior executives and the company’s owner—understand they can’t discriminate against older workers or harass them because of their age. The EEOC expects HR pros to speak truth to power by educating everyone on acceptable behavior.

Lawsuits seek to block enforcement of DOL’s final worker-classification rule

03/08/2024
Opponents of the Department of Labor’s newly final worker-classification rule have filed at least four lawsuits seeking to prevent enforcement of the rule when it takes effect on March 11.

DOL overtime rule advances to last step before becoming final

03/08/2024
The Department of Labor’s rule expanding access to overtime pay for an additional 3.6 million exempt employees is now under review by the Office of Management and Budget, the last step in the regulatory process before a final rule is issued.

PWFA enforcement halted in Texas

03/04/2024
A federal judge has ordered the federal government not to enforce the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act in Texas after the state government filed a lawsuit contesting how the law was passed.

Double-dip: Beware this new employee lawsuit tactic

03/04/2024
The EEOC complaint process gives employers a chance to investigate allegations and resolve the problem if possible. It also allows the opportunity to see what evidence the employee has and seek a settlement if the facts warrant it. But some aggressive plaintiffs’ attorneys have adopted a new litigation tactic—simultaneously filing both an EEOC complaint and a separate federal lawsuit alleging other related claims.