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Many employers would like to have a policy that provides light duty only to those workers who suffer on-the-job injuries, but not others, like pregnant employees. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, however, took the position that the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Young v. UPS necessarily required employers with occupational […]

The “Tipped Wage Workers Fairness Amendment Act of 2018” was enacted by the District of Columbia Council back in 2018, but certain provisions are taking effect only now – including mandatory sexual harassment training and reporting of sexual harassment complaints. D.C. has created a new website setting forth the required […]

Addressing this “novel” question, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit answered: No. However – be careful – companies may be held liable under a joint employer theory. In Post v. Trinity Health-Michigan, a nurse was employed by a physician group that provided services to a hospital. Several […]

“Just as an employee may not terminate the interactive process quickly to create liability, so too an employer may not cut off the interactive process so early that the parties cannot find a position to reasonably accommodate the employee,” stated the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in […]

This was the lesson from a recent case from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in a case under the Family and Medical Leave Act where the employer allowed communications beyond what was specified in its written policy. In Roberts v. Gestamp West Virginia, LLC, the employer […]

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, an employer is obliged to provide only those reasonable accommodations that are necessary to enable an employee to perform their essential job functions (or enjoy the privileges and benefits of employment), and not those that would arguably maximize an employee’s productivity. In Edwards v. […]

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs had a busy month, issuing several documents and resources of interest to federal contractors and subcontractors. These include the following: Compensation Analysis. The OFCCP has issued a revised Directive, “Advancing Pay Equity Through Compensation Analysis.” When originally issued in March, the Directive controversially […]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the National Labor Relations Board sufficiently addressed the conflict between an employer’s obligations under federal antidiscrimination laws and employee’s rights under the National Labor Relations Act in finding unlawful an employee’s termination for writing “whore board” at the top […]

The Mayor of the District of Columbia has signed a bill that protects marijuana/cannabis users from adverse employment actions for off-duty use, with certain exceptions. Following a typical period of Congressional review, the law will take effect upon the date of inclusion of its fiscal effect in an approved budget […]

The FDA’s approval of the Novavax vaccine may be a game changer in the tumultuous COVID vaccine mandate situation. Unless limited by state law, employers may require employees to become fully vaccinated against COVID – subject to exemptions as reasonable accommodations for disability or religious needs. Many employees have invoked […]