Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
For everyone who interviews applicants, there is a long list of pitfalls, but surely some of the most challenging and confusing to avoid are those relating to interviewing applicants with disabilities. Determining just what is a disability has always been a challenge, but recent court rulings indicate that the focus should be on the accommodation […]
Health care employers in California are now required to accommodate nurses who have lifting restrictions. In other states, nurses must prove that they have a disability covered by the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) to receive an accommodation. The new law means California nurses may now decline to participate in a patient lift, reposition or […]
Employers would be required to approve leave for domestic violence victims and their families under a bill proposed earlier this month by Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif. H.R. 3151, the Domestic Violence Leave Act, would amend the Family and Medical Leave Act to guarantee unpaid leave to workers needing medical attention or legal assistance following domestic […]
Starting Jan. 1, 2012, employers in California with five or more employees must continue paying their share of health insurance premiums for female employees taking leave under the Pregnancy Disability Leave law for up to four months in any 12-month period. Employers will also be liable for interfering with, restraining or denying the exercise of […]
The Compensation Daily Advisor® announced today the release of a free report, The Leave Maze—Managing FMLA, ADA, and Workers’ Compensation Issues, which will help compensation professionals to understand the legal basics of FMLA, ADA, and Workers’ Compensation. The special 42-page report clarifies the most up-to-date changes affecting each law, and pays particular attention to how […]
Federal workers can now take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to make child care arrangements and address other issues that can arise when a family member is called to active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces. The new regulations, which took effect Oct. 1, will make it easier for federal employees to […]
A recent appeals court ruling shows that clear and consistent documentation of an employee’s poor performance is more important than certain imprudent things a supervisor may say to an employee. Robert Dickerson, an individual with a mental disability, worked as a part-time custodian for an Illinois community college. He was recorded several times losing employer property and […]
The Family and Medical Leave Act requires that employees taking unpaid time off to care for a relative must stay close to that person during most of that leave, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said in deciding Baham v. McLane Foodservice, Inc. While an employee need not spend every waking moment in the […]
Employers should not fire workers in response to them taking valid FMLA leave. But firing can be justified when employees use FMLA leave (1) in a way that violates the employer’s policy manual, (2) to cover up for underperformance, (3) to retaliate against their employers or (4) as carte blanche to miss endless hours of […]
The decision in Quinn v. St. Louis Co. illuminates a fine line for employers. While eligible workers must be granted unpaid time off for qualifying serious health conditions under the FMLA, the court showed that interference must have material consequences – such as actual denial of time off – for employees to make a convincing […]