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Alison Jacobs Wice

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Alison Jacobs Wice is principal in the Hartford, Connecticut, office of Jackson Lewis P.C., where she represents management exclusively in workplace law and related advice, counsel, training and litigation. Alison is on the national leadership team for the firm’s Disability, Leave and Health Management practice group.

Since joining Jackson Lewis in September 2003, and throughout her career, Alison has represented employers in state and federal trial, appellate and administrative proceedings throughout the United States involving the full spectrum of substantive issues covered by the firm's employment law practice. She provides advice and counsel to corporate clients on a variety of employment and employee relations claims, including discrimination, sexual, age, disability and racial harassment, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, collective bargaining, reductions in force, and leave management issues.

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A recent Connecticut Appellate Court case provides helpful reminders that:

  • regular, reliable attendance can be an essential function of many jobs; and
  • eliminating an essential job function is not a reasonable accommodation.

Plaintiff in Barbabosa v. Board of Education of the Town of Manchester was a full-time, one-on-one paraprofessional for schoolchildren. The trial court held…

The situation is not that uncommon. An employer learns of a performance incident and the employee involved promptly requests FMLA leave. The employer then must decide how to address the incident while avoiding the risk of an FMLA or ADA claim. Will the law protect an employer that provides the employee FMLA leave while investigating…

Add another FMLA victory for an employer who terminated a plaintiff based on its “honest belief” that the plaintiff was misusing FMLA leave.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the employer on the plaintiff’s FMLA interference claim. Dalpiaz v. Carbon County Utah (10th Cir. July 25, 2014).…