ADA accommodation may require showing rather than telling An employee in Illinois will move forward to a jury trial on her disability discrimination claim alleging that her employer failed to provide a reasonable accommodation for her learning disability. Although supervisors told her how to complete her timesheets, the employee claims that…
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Question: We recently instituted a no-beard policy to ensure that men can securely wear their required safety masks. However, one of our Muslim employees refused, citing the Prophet Muhammad. I’ve studied the Quran, and I know that it doesn’t require beards. Can we discipline or fire him for not shaving?
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Question: Our company policy prohibits employees from supervising their family members or people with whom they have a romantic relationship. I believe a female supervisor is romantically involved with one of her direct reports. Can I ask both employees about the relationship and require that they disclose the nature of their relationship? And if either or both of the employees refuse to answer, can I take disciplinary action?
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Finding no evidence of discrimination under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a railroad terminated a train engineer because of his poor attendance, not his diagnosed sleep disorder. Although this case was brought under FEHA, the analysis was the same as it…
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Question: One of our employees seriously injured his hand at work after just a couple of days on the job. Based on the nature of his injury, it seems obvious that he must have committed a safety violation. Can we fire him?
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Question: There’s been a lot of talk in our workplace about the Google engineer who was fired for circulating an anti-diversity memo. What about free speech?
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In a rare case, an unmarried teacher recently won a victory against her employer by applying Oregon’s law protecting individuals from discrimination based on marital status. The teacher worked at a Christian university, which required her to adhere to a certain moral standard. When she revealed that she was pregnant, unmarried, and living with her boyfriend, her employer gave her the options of ending her cohabitation, marrying the father of her child, or losing her job. When she declined the first two options, the university terminated her employment.
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Question: We just got a call from a business that wants to check on a former employee. They faxed a release the former employee signed waiving liability for information we share. Are we safe telling them what a bad employee she was?
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The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently breathed new life into a lawsuit against WinCo Foods, finding enough evidence to suggest sex discrimination against a long-term female supervisor who was fired for sharing a stale cake with her work crew.
Read More…A California Court of Appeals recently upheld an employer’s decision to terminate a senior manager for violating his behavioral contract. The manager had engaged in an affair with a non-management employee. After the relationship ended, the manager obsessively contacted the employee via text messages, calls, and visits to her house and neighborhood even after the police told him to stop. The employee finally reported her fear of him to company security, which prompted an investigation that confirmed the harassing conduct.
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