Articles and Blogs

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) recently published resource documents on two hot topics in the labor and employment world: bathroom access for transgender employees and leaves of absence for disabled workers. The EEOC notes that its resource documents do not create new policy, are not voted on by the Commission and are... READ MORE

Last year, we blogged about a decision issued by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over courts in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, that held that allowing a disabled employee to telecommute could be a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Last week, however, that decision was reversed by... READ MORE

Yesterday, March 25, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court published its long-awaited opinion in the case of Peggy Young v. United Parcel Service. The issue in this case was whether an employer must reasonably accommodate a pregnant worker as it does other workers who are not pregnant. The Court vacated the Fourth Circuit’s decision affirming summary... READ MORE

Have you ever heard of trypanophobia? If not, it means a fear of needles, which, in this case, resulted in a jury verdict of $2.6 million to a Rite Aid pharmacist whose fear of needles prevented him from giving flu shot immunizations as a required part of his job. Is “Needle Phobia” an ADA... READ MORE

Was Job Restructuring Reasonable?  The Jury Will Decide A hairdresser at a nursing home quit her job following surgery when her boss failed to consider assigning her duties of transporting wheelchair bound residents to the beauty salon to orderlies.  She filed an ADA suit claiming a failure to reasonably accommodate her disability.  The nursing... READ MORE

“Sicker than a Dog” Under the ADA, an employer is required to “reasonably accommodate” a “qualified individual with a disability.”  In this recent case, the court had occasion to consider whether an open-ended request for leave was “reasonable” when it was made by an employee who claimed to be “sicker than a dog” and... READ MORE

An employee who is caught sleeping on the job will usually end up getting fired. Indeed, this is what happened when a night shift employee was caught sleeping numerous times. The employee was given progressive warnings, including a final warning, before getting caught the last time and was fired. This seems pretty straightforward; however,... READ MORE

Your Leave Is Up – Sorry but You’re Fired Many employers have medical leave policies.  Most of those policies allow leave for a maximum duration often three to six months or even up to a year.  The FMLA, of course, guarantees job protection for 12 weeks.  But what is an employer to do if... READ MORE

Earlier this year, we told you about a recent case from Kentucky in which a federal court found that it was not reasonable for a plaintiff to expect his employer to accommodate his lifting restrictions by spreading essential lifting requirements among the plaintiff’s co-workers. READ MORE

Sometimes the important things that an employee may be required to do in a job almost never happen.  Take for example a worker at a juvenile detention center who might one day have to physically restrain a violent youth who might be causing trouble at the facility.  It doesn’t happen often, but it certainly could.  Does... READ MORE