BUSINESS LAW: A single comment can create a claim

The law does not guarantee a perfect workplace. Courts do not want to be super-human resource departments, potentially reviewing every slight felt by employees.

BUSINESS LAW: Religious discrimination found

As noted in the past, federal law prohibits employment discrimination based on religion.

BUSINESS LAW: What defines a medical inquiry?

One given principle of the Americans With Disabilities Act provides that employee medical information obtained from “medical examinations and inquiries” must be treated as a confidential medical record. The issue is what is an inquiry?

BUSINESS LAW: Essential functions under the ADA

In order to be protected under the Americans With Disabilities Act, the employee must be able to perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodations.

BUSINESS LAW: Notice under the FLMA

Under the Family and Medical Leave Act, a covered employer must give a qualified employee FMLA leave to care for the employee's family member(s) with a serious health condition.

BUSINESS LAW: Returnign veteran can be terminated

In previous articles, we have discussed the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. A recent case held that under USERRA, an employer can terminate a returning veteran.

BUSINESS LAW: Trainees under the ADA

Pursuant to the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), in order to be protected, the employee must be qualified to perform the duties of her job.

BUSINESS LAW: Honest belief as a defense

In our last article, we discussed age discrimination claims. Today, we will examine one key defense available to employers.

BUSINESS LAW: Age discrimination claims in the the workplace

As the workforce ages, we can expect to see an increase in age discrimination claims in the workplace. A recent case shows how these claims can arise.

BUSINESS LAW: Rotating shifts and the ADA

In our last article, we discussed whether transferring a qualified disabled employee to a vacant job position was a required reasonable accommodation under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

BUSINESS LAW: Under the ADA

Under the Americans With Disabilities Act, or the ADA, an employee with a disability must be able to perform the essential functions of her job, with or without accommodations. Determining a job's "essential functions" can be critical.

BUSINESS LAW: What is a treatment?

The Family and Medical Leave Act is one of the most difficult statutes for employers to work with.

BUSINESS LAW: Hostile work environments

As we have noted in the past, employees can allege hostile work environment claims based on race or national origin.

BUSINESS LAW: Alienage is not a protected class

Immigration reform has been a hotly contested issue. President Obama's recent executive order further focused attention on the status of individuals who are illegally in the United States.

BUSINESS LAW: Attendance as essential function is employers' duty to prove

Common sense would seem to suggest regular attendance is an essential function of every job. This is an important concept.

BUSINESS LAW: Criminal background checks

Surveys suggest a substantial percentage of employers routinely use criminal background checks when hiring new employees. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commssion has just issued new guidelines, which limit this use.

BUSINESS LAW: Timing can be everything in retaliation claims

In a typical retaliation case, an employee will claim an adverse employment decision, often termination, was in retaliation for the employee having exercised a protected right.

BUSINESS LAW: Outside activities and the ADA

In order to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act, or ADA, employers must carefully consider all requests for reasonable accommodations from employees with disabilities.

BUSINESS LAW: Reinstating returning service personnel

President Barack Obama's announcement that our soldiers in Iraq will return by year's end refocuses attention on the re-employment rights of employees who were called into active duty.

BUSINESS LAW: USERRA leave differs from FMLA leave

For employers, it is difficult to comply with just one of the employment statutes we often discuss. Just think how difficult it is when the employer must coordinate two or three statutes at the same time.

BUSINESS LAW: Retaliation claim prevails

In previous articles, we have noted that claims of retaliation are increasing. Employers face great risk in these claims, especially when an adverse employment action falls close in time to an employee's exercise of a protected right.

BUSINESS LAW: The cat's paw

In the 17th century French fable, The Monkey and the Cat, a monkey convinces a cat to pull chestnuts from a fire. The cat burns his paws.

BUSINESS LAW: What is a similarly situated employee?

To prevail on a sex discrimination claim, a female employee must demonstrate that similarly situated men, subject to the same company policy, were treated more favorably.

BUSINESS LAW: Wage and hour claims increase

There was a time when most litigation arose at intersections, when cars, and later attorneys, collided. Now, unfortunately, the workplace is the most fertile place of litigation.

BUSINESS LAW: Same-sex sexual harassment can be unlawful

Same-sex sexual harassment claims are rare. However, this type of harassment can be unlawful.

BUSINESS LAW: Men entitled to protection from harassment

In a sexual harassment case, the conduct complained of must be "unwelcomed." Can this element ever be proven in a case where a male employee complains he is being harassed by a female co-worker?

BUSINESS LAW: Hostile work environment

In order to establish her claims of a sexual based hostile work environment by non-supervisory co-workers, a female employee needs to show that she was subjected to unwelcome sexual harassment and that the harassment was based on her sex.

Heed worker harassment claims

It is imperative that employers have adequate anti-harassment policies, that the policies are publicized and that supervisors are trained in them. But even the best written policy fails when not enforced.

Reasonable accommodations provided – and rejected

This is the third article relating to the Americans With Disabilities Act. This time we examine the obligation to provide reasonable accommodations. Once an employer receives a request for a reasonable accommodation, it should open up a dialogue with the employee toward the end of finding a …

ADA may apply to work schedules

In previous articles, we have noted that at the heart of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) is the obligation of employers to provide reasonable accommodations to help disabled employees perform the essential functions of the job.

BUSINESS LAW: Terminating employees with impairments

Last time, we revisited the Americans With Disabilities Act and what constitutes a disability. In a recent case, the ADA issue related to the circumstances when an employer can terminate an employee with a known disability.

BUSINESS LAW: Progressive discipline policies prove beneficial

Typically, a progressive discipline policy provides that corrective action usually starts with a verbal warning, followed by a written warning, then a final warning and ultimately termination.

BUSINESS LAW: Changes to the ADA

We have frequently written about the Americans With Disabilities Act.

A tricky case with the ADA

This is the 12th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"). In this column, we frequently discuss the ADA, in large part because so many new cases are being filed under it.

Neutral rules and the ADA

As we noted a few months ago, the United States Supreme Court ruled under the Americans with Disabilities Act whether an employer must violate its seniority system in order to provide a transfer to another job as a reasonable accommodation.

Pregnancy rights of employees

As a general statement, pregnant employees are not entitled to special workplace treatment, but they are entitled to the same treatment as workers with other medical conditions. The specific law containing this protection is the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.

Caring for others under the FMLA

Eligible employees of employers covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act are entitled to up to 12 work weeks of unpaid leave during a 12-month period for a number of specified reasons.

Supreme Court rules on seniority

As noted sometime ago, this term the United States Supreme Court heard arguments in three cases involving the Americans With Disabilities Act. This past week, the court issued its opinion in the second of the three cases.