When employees who have had serious health crises return to work, employers often worry that they may not be able to work safely. While that may seem like a valid concern for employee welfare, courts seldom see it that way. In fact, if a returning employee also requested reasonable accommodations, refusing to let him return may amount to retaliation for protected activity.
Employment Law
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Some employers are apparently still clueless about their obligations to prevent, detect and remedy unlawful harassment.. Lawsuits continue to clog up the legal system as employees keep filing sexual harassment cases. Many of those cases revolve around what happens far from corporate headquarters.
A group of volunteer firefighters for the Amityville Fire Department will share $209,280 after they settled a lawsuit alleging discrimination in the way cash bonuses were handed out.
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has finally settled a key question: Can employers and employees settle FMLA disputes without having to get either court or Department of Labor approval? The court said yes, such cases can be settled between the parties without outside interference. That’s good news.
Under the law, an employee who takes FMLA leave is entitled to return to the same position he or she held when leave started or to an equivalent position. However, there are situations when employers can refuse to reinstate workers returning from FMLA leave—but only under limited circumstances.
Make it clear with employees—early and often—that your electronic communications are not their private playground. Legally, it’s your organization’s property and you have the right to monitor every email as you wish.
A few weeks ago, U.S. employees gained a powerful new tool to prove their wage-and-hour cases: the new “Timesheet” app for smartphones from the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division. Impact: Now employees may claim they have the most accurate time records! All the more incentive for you to accurately track actual hours worked—not just hours written on a time sheet.
The EEOC recently issued long-awaited final regulations to the ADA Amendments Act, clarifying many of the confusing provisions contained in the 2009 law. The final regulations further expand the ADAAA’s goal of broadening the definition of “disability” under the ADA. As a result, a greater number of employees will be covered under federal disability law and be eligible to file ADA-related claims.
You’ve heard the expression “the world’s going to the dogs.” Well, that just became truer than ever. The U.S. Department of Justice recently revised the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) rules on when service animals are allowed in shops, restaurants and other public-access buildings. And the DOJ has clarified that service animals that provide help for psychiatric impairments are covered under the ADA ...
You may have heard that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services published final regulations—which took effect May 16, 2011—regarding employers’ Form I-9 employment verification practices. The good news: You don’t need to change any of your current practices—as long as your forms and practices are up-to-date.
