Normally, if you hear that an employee was on medical leave for a stroke, completed rehab, wanted to return to work and that the employer said “No”, you might automatically that the employer’s response is an FMLA or ADA violation, or both. Not always. I often write about cases that allow us to learn from […]
Can You Eliminate a Position…After the Employee Returns from FMLA Leave?
If you have 50 or more employees, chances are, you’ve dealt with at least one employee taking and returning from FMLA leave. If you’ve weathered at least one recession or other financial ups and downs, you’ve probably had to downsize. What happens when both occur at the same time? What happens when you have an […]
How Not to Respond to a Reasonable Accommodation Request
You probably already know that the ADA (and the ADAAA) protects qualified individuals with disabilities from discrimination. Title I applies to the workplace. There’s more though. Built into the definition of discrimination is failure to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in hiring and during employment. In other words, Title I of the […]
When Do You (Not) Have to Continue an ADA Accommodation?
Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA), requires an employer to provide reasonable accommodations for employees/applicants that are qualified individuals with disabilities. Which accommodations are reasonable and how can you tell? Unfortunately, there is no bright-line rule. Employers must make an individualized assessment. Normally […]
How Does a One-Year Leave Policy Violate the ADA??
UPS just settled an 8-year disability discrimination lawsuit for $1.7 million. The employees in question had all had leaves of absence of more than one year and failed to return to work. So UPS fired them. What’s wrong with that? They hadn’t come to work in more than a year–and an employer still has […]