Tag: Leave Management

Disabilities: Possible accommodations for chemical sensitivities

Millions of individuals suffer from allergies or asthma, which can be exacerbated by common environmental agents, such as pollen, dust, latex, nuts, ink, toner, cleaning supplies, fingernail polish, lotions, cologne, and more. Since many of the offending substances are regularly found in workplaces, employers must understand their duty to accommodate those who develop an aversion to odors and allergies in the workplace

Employer’s Injured-player Analogy Backfires in ADA Suit

A university’s likening of a disabled professor to a baseball player with a career-ending injury did not persuade a judge to dismiss the professor’s disability discrimination allegations. On the contrary, it showed that the employer may have fired the professor because of his disability, a federal judge said in Matland v. Loyola University of Chicago, No. […]

Train Employees on Basic Nutrition

November is the perfect time for basic nutrition wellness training because it’s also American Diabetes Month. According to the American Diabetes Association, more than 25 million Americans have diabetes, and more than 75 million have prediabetes and are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is highly preventable, however, with a nutritious […]

Sample Job Description: Leave Program Specialist (a Job Worth its Weight in Documentation)

Job descriptions are the glue that holds together organizational hierarchy and work processes. When they are well-written, job descriptions create tangible objectives and signify accountability. To keep their companies in compliance with federal and state employment laws, human resources professionals need to be certain that the essential functions of every job are clearly documented. When […]

Toys “R” Us Will Pay $35K for Requiring Deaf Applicant to Provide Own Interpreter

Retailer Toys “R” Us will pay $35,000 to settle allegations that it required a deaf applicant to provide her own interpreter for a job interview  according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEOC filed suit earlier this year on behalf of Shakirra Thomas, alleging multiple Americans with Disabilities Act violations. According to the commission, Thomas […]

Supreme Court Asks Feds to Weigh In on Pregnancy Accommodation

The U.S. Supreme Court has asked the federal government to provide an opinion on whether the Pregnancy Discrimination Act requires employers to accommodate pregnant employees. The Court received a petition to hear Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc., a case from earlier this year in which the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that […]

Survey Asks Whether College Effectively Prepares Students for the Working World

Twenty-two percent of adult workers in a recent survey said that a college education does not effectively prepare students for employment in the workforce. Meanwhile, nearly the same percentage—25 percent—reported that college does effectively prepare students for the working world. Only 10 percent said college prepares students very effectively. The April 2013 survey of more […]

Train Managers to Effectively Recognize Employee Success

Derek Irvine, coauthor of the book, Winning with a Culture of Recognition (Globoforce Limited, 2010) and vice president of Global Strategy for Globoforce, suggests that it’s time for employers to take another look at employee recognition. “It’s no longer just a nice-to-have a program; recognition can be, if deployed strategically, a massive profit generator and […]

Firms Must Consider Returning Vets for Discretionary Promotions

Under the “escalator principle” of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994, employers must consider workers returning from military service for discretionary promotions they might otherwise have received — not just automatic promotions, according to the recent decision of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that overturned a ruling by the […]