News

Under the ADA, there’s no obligation to reasonably accommodate a spouse’s illness. But a recent case in California under that state’s ADA equivalent may portend a trend.

An employee states she has a disability (fibromyalgia) and undiagnosed autism. She says this makes it hard for her to process thoughts, which makes her slower at reading notes on the computer, processing client requests, answering phones as quickly as others and the ability to multitask. She has never provided any reasonable accommodation information from her doctor.

Can a perceived customer preference for non-disabled front-of-house workers make being able to stand and walk without a limp an essential function of the job? One employer found out when it ended up paying $100,000 for turning down a request for a stool.

In a mixed decision that may invite other cases, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a retired disabled individual could not sue her former employer over an alleged discriminatory policy change that cut her retiree health benefit.

The decision to immediately and without warning terminate the CHNV parole program, which involves 530,000 participants, creates urgent compliance and workforce implications for employers.

The ADA requires employers to provide help to disabled applicants at every stage of the employment relationship if that assistance is reasonable, allows disabled workers to enjoy all the benefits other workers receive and provides the help they need to perform the essential functions of their jobs despite a disability. That includes adapting job training so disabled employees can learn how to perform their jobs.

You may rightly worry that posting jobs similar to ones that were eliminated could spur a lawsuit. But if you can clearly explain why you decided to reopen positions that were eliminated earlier, courts are unlikely to conclude you intended to discriminate against those who were not retained during the earlier RIF.

HR’s best weapon against FMLA fraud is to be alert to the main symptoms and how to combat them.

If you are in the restaurant or entertainment industry and require employees to wear revealing outfits at work, prepare for an unfortunate if entirely predictable consequence: Customers may harass your workers. That’s a genuine legal risk, and it’s just as serious as if a supervisor was doing the harassing.

Employees who take FMLA leave are protected from retaliation for doing so. That’s led to the mistaken belief among some employees that they can’t be disciplined or fired while on leave. That’s not the case—if you can show you would have disciplined or fired the worker even if she wasn’t on leave.