Can you be liable for employment discrimination against someone who’s not your employee? Sometimes. Title VII and the other aforementioned laws prohibit employers from discriminating. These laws loosely define employers as entities with a minimum number of employees, usually 15 or more (20 or more under the ADEA). If you meet that threshold, you are […]
Can You Make Your Employees Get Flu Shots?
Flu season is coming. If you work for a health care institution or organization that could be of particular concern. Mandatory vaccination programs are very common in the healthcare industry. Is it legal? Usually, yes. Some states might even require you to offer the vaccine. But even a mandatory flu shot (or other vaccination) may […]
When is a Reasonable Accommodation Not Reasonable?
Most employers know they have to reasonably accommodate qualified applicants’ and employees’ disabilities. Not all employers know that they also have to reasonably accommodate employees’ religious practices. That doesn’t mean you have to grant every request for an accommodation, however. The key word here is reasonable. So what is a reasonable accommodation, and what determines […]
Employers: Think Losing or Destroying Records Isn’t a Big Deal? Think Again…
Suppose your company has been sued based on allegations of religious discrimination. You feel pretty confidentthat you did not engage in any such discrimination in any way. Maybe you and your managers even bent over backwards to provide the requested accommodations or a reasonable alternative. You believe you have air-tight explanations for and defenses to allegations […]
Ad”dressing” Religious Accommodations at Work
Do you require your workers to adhere to a dress code or grooming policy? I’ve written about that issue before. You can click here, and here for those posts. You might wonder why I’d be writing about it again. No, it’s not because I like to repeat myself, and no, it’s not because I have […]