Offering Practical Guidance to Employers
As I read and re-read the OFCCP’s14 points of guidance to employers interested in establishing a “best practice” reasonable accommodation program, Appendix B to the Section 503 regulations issued in August, I had a déjà vu moment. I kept thinking that I had previously read something remarkably similar to the 14 points.
It finally came…
Earlier this year, we posted that we continued to wait for ADA “voluntary” wellness plan guidance from the EEOC. In a January 18, 2013 informal letter responding to an inquiry concerning a wellness program, the EEOC reiterated its 2000 Guidance that it “has not taken a position on whether and to what extent a reward…
A 2011 amendment to Iowa’s gun control law requires a sheriff to issue a permit to carry a gun to an applicant unless the applicant is disqualified for any of six enumerated reasons. None of these disqualifies an applicant who is unable to see.
One Iowa county has issued weapons permits to individuals “who can’t…
A request for a reserved, on-site, free parking space is a request for an accommodation under the ADA even though it does not relate to the performance of essential job functions, according to a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Feist v. State of Louisiana, (5th Cir. Sept.
In Cleveland v. Policy Management Systems Corp., the United States Supreme Court created a framework for analyzing how inconsistent statements on applications for disability benefits concerning a plaintiff’s ability to work affect an ADA claim.The analysis focuses on whether the plaintiff’s statements “genuinely conflicted with her ADA claim” and if so, whether the plaintiff…
Must an employer bend its rule prohibiting an employee with discipline from transferring to another position as a reasonable accommodation if the request to transfer is due to a disability?
We posted recently about a case where an employer denied an employee’s request to telecommute or relocate his office for a medical reason because he…
An employee who twice failed to complete a substance abuse treatment program was not protected by either the ADA or FMLA, according to the Fifth Circuit. Shirley v. Precision Castparts et al (5th Cir. August 12, 2013). The employer terminated the employee for leaving a treatment program prior to being properly discharged, as required by…
A lab worker with health problems as a result of her work with a solvent submitted the following request for an accommodation: “Avoid any type of work where she would have exposure to organic solvents. Transfer to another line of work. Avoidance of irritants.”
The employer denied the request but offered the plaintiff a full…
A terminated sheriff’s failure to refute a psychologist’s claim that he had lingering psychological deficits from a stroke that would interfere with his ability to perform his job led the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm summary judgment for the County on the sheriff’s ADA claims.
The sheriff’s doctor had cleared him to return…
An essential function of full time work is that an employee actually work full time! The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently concluded that an individual who requested that she be allowed to continue working part time did not request a reasonable accommodation under the ADA. White v. Standard Insurance Co.,…
