In this post-pandemic world, remote and hybrid work arrangements have become the norm at most companies. And for employees with disabilities who have trouble working in an office, it’s the perfect time for them to negotiate a remote opportunity. That doesn’t mean, however, that companies have to grant remote work to any disabled employee who…
It’s been a long and winding road for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) since the law was passed in 1990. From the start, the statute’s text was filled with malleable terms and sometimes equivocal language that was in dire need of clarification and interpretation. Thankfully, in the three-plus decades since the law became effective,…
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is a continuing effort for the majority of HR pros and those who work in the DEI sector. It seems like there is always some work to do to make the workplace an equitable and inclusive space. DEI efforts need to include a disability inclusion strategy to make the workplace…
The duty of employers to accommodate disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) doesn’t begin with a new worker’s first day on the job. Instead, it also fully applies during the hiring process. What steps should employers take to make that process as smooth as possible while staying on the right side of the…
Does an employer’s ADA accommodation duty extend so far as to require it to change an employee’s job schedule to help with their commute to work? A new federal court decision says the answer is “maybe.” And while that’s a frustratingly non-committal answer, it means that in the Seventh Circuit (Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin), there…
A recent federal appeals court ruling shows the wide range of accommodations employers might have to provide applicants and employees with disabilities. It also shows the steep price employers may have to pay if it is determined that an accommodation should have been provided but was wrongfully denied. Paul Reina is deaf and legally blind,…
The legal rules around dealing with employees who have alcoholism take legitimate employer concerns into account, but the landscape in this area includes land mines that must be avoided. Employers must know how to respond when an employee has alcoholism that is impacting work performance. The need is especially prevalent in light of empirical evidence…
A federal appeals court has upheld a decision to reject disability bias claims filed by a sleepwalking worker who mistakenly climbed into a co-worker’s hotel room bed during an out-of-town trip. Jennifer Harkey began working for NextGen Healthcare in 2008 in a position called “implementation specialist.” Things went well for a decade, and she was…
As an HR professional, you’re an expert in recruiting talent and matching that talent to hiring managers and teams. Post-COVID, you may have even upped your game with online interviews and hiring. It’s during the interview process that the HR professional relies on intuition and experience – that ever-important first impression. How did the candidate…
While we’re slowly but surely recovering from the effects of the pandemic, fallout from COVID-19 will continue for some time. And this is evident in the various legal problems that are cropping up for employers. Here’s a lawsuit the EEOC recently filed against a company that didn’t properly accommodate an employee who was at high…
Saying it is the “capstone” of its resources on the subject, the EEOC has issued another update to its COVID-19 guidance. Demonstrating the fluidity of the situation presented by the pandemic, the agency has now updated this guidance about 20 times since its initial release. Let’s dive in and take a look at some notable…
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