Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
As an HR person, you care about people, says attorney Susan Fentin. Your impulse is to help an employee with a chronic illness. However, if the situation is driving the business down, you may not be able to help.
A company’s policy of requiring a doctor’s note for each intermittent absence under the Family and Medical Leave Act violates FMLA because the policy directly conflicts with FMLA’s recertification procedure. So ruled a federal district court in a consolidation of cases that presented an issue of first impression in the jurisdiction of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court […]
Beginning next month, employers can be fined $210 per incidence for failing to post notices required by federal nondiscrimination laws. The change, which raises the fine from $100 per incidence, was announced in the Federal Register Wednesday (29 C.F.R. Part 1601). It takes effect April 18. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, […]
Wal-Mart has successfully defended a putative class action alleging that its failure to employ former drug addicts as pharmacists violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. The retailer was able to show that the lead plaintiff was fired because he was previously charged with forging prescriptions — not because of his history of addiction. The suit […]
If an employee does not wish to take leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act but continues to be absent from work, then he or she must have a reason for the absence that is acceptable under the employer’s policies, otherwise termination is justified. This assertion by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals […]
The material in today’s Advisor is adapted from “Workplace Security for Employees,” which is one of dozens of courses in the HR Employment Library of BLR’s TrainingToday®. Here’s an exercise you can use during training to test retention of your security information. The objective of the exercise is to review security policy and procedures. Workplace […]
Since obesity is officially classified as a disease by the American Medical Association, this provides support to the argument that obesity should also be a protected disability under the ADA.
In yesterday’s Advisor, Attorney Patricia Eyres briefed us on dealing with employees’ chronic health conditions. Today, we present her tips on managing those employees’ performances, plus an introduction to the all-things-HR-in-one-place website, HR.BLR.com. Continuous Performance Management Is Your Best Potential Defense Always start dealing with the productivity or performance issue, says Eyres. Let the employee […]
What is DSM-5? It is the new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, released by the American Psychiatric Association on May 18, 2013. This is the first substantial update to the DSM since 1994, and it reorganizes the classification system and changes the names of some disorders to simplify diagnostics for practitioners. The DSM is primarily used by psychiatrists and other mental health professionals in diagnosing patients, but its influence extends to the courts and the development of employment law.
One of the most challenging tasks in HR is dealing with lifelong illnesses or chronic conditions under the FMLA and ADA. But you have no choice, says Attorney Patricia Eyres. What Is a Chronic Condition? What is a “Chronic Condition” for purposes of leaves, accommodations, and performance management? Eyres says that it is a disease […]