If you have a grooming policy based on safety factors (like no beards for firefighters), does that trump an employee’s request for a religious accommodation? Maybe not. A recent Third Circuit decision, Smith v. City of Atlantic City, et al., addressed this issue and partially reversed a district court’s grant of summary judgment in
Not all requests for accommodation or FMLA leave will fit into neat boxes like “pregnancy” or “knee surgery.” Because the ADA definition of a disability includes any impairment that affects a major life function, employers are starting to see some more creative requests around the margins. In Trautman v. Time Warner Cable Texas, LLC,
What do you do when an employee discloses that he or she is stressed out and needs a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act, but the requested accommodation strikes you as unreasonable? If you are reading this and thinking “that won’t happen to me—all of my employees are well-adjusted,” think again. The experts
“You have to show up for work—it’s a part of your job.” Attendance at the workplace is an essential work function in an ADA case. But is it really anymore? With technology, some would argue that many jobs can be done from anywhere, and employees (particularly disabled employees) are more and more seeking to work
Does the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) require you to allow telecommuting? If the employee’s job, like most jobs, involves attendance and teamwork as essential functions, the answer is likely no. However, more and more employers are allowing telecommuting, and most employees welcome the opportunity to telecommute.
If an otherwise qualified employee has a disability,
Does an employee’s protection under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) stop when the employee ceases to be pregnant? The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals was confronted with this question in Stephanie Hicks v. City of Tuscaloosa, in which Ms. Hicks, a police officer who returned from maternity leave and unsuccessfully sought some accommodation
In a battle between a mentally ill employee seeking accommodation for his job at a nuclear plant and federal nuclear safety codes—-which wins out? The Third Circuit Court of Appeals ended up going with safety codes.
Looking Out for an Erratic Employee
Mr. Daryle McNelis was an armed security guard at Pennsylvania Power and Light’s
If an employer provides a temporary reassignment to accommodate an employee’s disability/pregnancy restrictions, does it have to return her to that assignment after her maternity leave? The EEOC seems to think so. In Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Dependable Health Services, the EEOC alleged that Dependable Health Services (DHS) discriminated against Sheena Berry, who
Before the Americans with Disabilities Act (and there was a time before the ADA), it was not uncommon to require employees to have a doctor’s note returning them to work “with no restrictions.” That won’t work in today’s ADA world, and the EEOC’s recent complaint against M&T Bank Corporation in New York provides a clear
There has been a lot of discussion over the last year about whether transgender employees are protected against sex discrimination under Title VII—but what about against disability discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)? Maybe. In Kate Lynn Blatt v. Cabela’s Retails, Inc., a federal district court in Pennsylvania has ruled that