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Return to Work Only When Cleared of Medical Restrictions—Is this a Problem?

  the situation A company requires all employees returning to work from medical leave to be able to perform their essential job duties without any sort of accommodation—basically a 100% return-to-work policy.  The policy applies across the board, no matter what the medical condition or what the employee’s position.  Is this lawful?

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Does a Mandatory Retirement Age Equal Discrimination?

the situation An employer has a policy that states that all employees must retire at the age of 65.  Is this age discrimination?

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So When Do You Need to Pay Employees For Breaks?

the situation An employer rolls out a new system under which employees are free to log off and take breaks whenever they choose—but they will only be paid for the time if they log back in within ninety seconds.  Is this a violation of the FLSA?

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Is it Okay to Give Women More Parental Leave?

the situation A company implements a new parental leave policy which allows more time off for biological mothers than biological fathers, along with offering new mothers better benefits related to their transitions back to work. Could this be unlawful?

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Can a Company Trade Services for Pay?

the situation A fitness studio offers its customers the opportunity to trade a free monthly membership for a few hours of cleaning each week. It is a completely voluntary arrangement.  Could this later come back to bite the fitness studio?

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“But I Was Just Kidding!” Is That a Defense to a Discrimination Claim?

the situation During an industry-wide conference related to success strategies, a company executive is taking notes.  The notes include a page with the header “Attracting and Retaining employees,” and underneath, writes “Fire all the old people.”  The owner claims he was only kidding when he wrote this and was referring to a similar statement made […]

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Could Denying A Request for an Extension of Medical Leave Violate the ADA?

  the situation You have an employee who has been out on medical leave because of a serious health condition.  But before his scheduled return-to-work-date, the employee requests an additional two months of leave to undergo further medical treatment.  If you deny this request, could you be violating the ADA?

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Could Supervisor’s Statements Regarding Biracial Dating Create a Hostile Work Environment?

the situation Caucasian employee has an African American spouse with whom she has several children. The employee’s supervisor begins complaining to her about his concerns that his daughter is dating an African American man and talking to her about the potential problems that might arise out of this relationship, including consequences within his extended family […]

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What Counts as Bad Faith Under the FMLA?

  the situation An employee requests to use a month of FMLA leave based upon an injury and the request is approved. The employee tells HR that she has an appointment with her doctor on the day before she expects to return (which happens to be a Friday).  During that doctor’s appointment, the employee is […]

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Two Week Countdown to Start Using Revised I-9 Form

the situation In July of this year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) published a revised version of Form I-9 for employers to use to establish the eligibility of individuals for employment under the Immigration Reform and Control Act.  Although this new form has been available since July 17, until September 17, employers had the […]

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