Kollman & Saucier, Author at Kollman & Saucier P.A.

Reasonable Accommodation and the ADA’s Interactive Process

Kollman & Saucier

06/30/2021

A major component of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the interactive process. The law requires employers and employees to actively engage in this dialogue when exploring reasonable accommodations. But there is no requirement that an employer agree to an employee’s preferred accommodation if there is another accommodation that is less expensive or easier to provide that will have the same effect. As long as an...

Kollman & Saucier

06/28/2021

Wage & Hour

Overreaching has become an unfortunate consequence of life these days. Here’s one example. The Fourth Circuit recently affirmed dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a group of Lowe’s employees who alleged that bonus payments and volunteer time should count in the calculation of overtime due them. McPhee v. Lowe’s Home Ctrs., 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 18076 (4th Cir. June 17, 2021). You may recall way back in late 2017 there was a change in the...

Kollman & Saucier

06/17/2021

Disability & Leave

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is clear: it is crucial for employers to timely and thoroughly explore avenues of reasonable accommodation (that do not create an undue hardship) for employees with disabilities. This is not a one and done thing; an employer needs to be fully engaged in the interactive process and keep a good record of what it has done to meet its obligations. The failure to do so may result in an employee getting...

Kollman & Saucier

06/15/2021

Uncategorized

I am spending a lot of time these days counseling employers who are in the middle of having their employees return to the worksite. One of the big issues (no surprise here) is whether employees have been vaccinated. Do you request documentation? Do you rely on someone’s statement that they cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, or because they have a religious objection? Do you punish those who chose not to vaccinate just because? For...

Kollman & Saucier

05/07/2021

FMLA

An employer that fired a worker who broke his little toe and then did not come to work because, he claimed, he couldn’t get his work boots on will have to let a jury decide whether he had a serious health condition under the FMLA and whether, as a result, his termination was illegal interference with his FMLA rights. Scholl v. Miami Valley Polishing, LLC, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82946 (S.D. Ohio 2021). The company, MVP, supplies polished aluminum...

Kollman & Saucier

05/05/2021

Agency Activity, Employment Discrimination

Last week, the EEOC issued the following press release, which is reproduced here as released. Employers sometimes forget about EEO-1 reporting requirements. If you are a covered employer, do not forget to complete your report. If you have questions, contact us. K&S lawyers will assist you in understanding your obligations. EEOC ANNOUNCES OPENING OF 2019 AND 2020 EEO-1 COMPONENT 1 DATA COLLECTION Employers Have Until July 19, 2021 to...

Kollman & Saucier

05/04/2021

FMLA

I am in the process of updating my FMLA/Wage & Hour treatise published by LEXIS/NEXIS (gratuitous self-promotion). All this means is that I have been reading lots of FMLA cases; my blogs this week will be a teaser for what’s new in the book. As you likely know, the challenges in applying the FMLA, ADA and workers’ compensation law when an employee needs time off from work are, at times, mind-boggling. The interplay of these statutes in...

Kollman & Saucier

03/10/2021

Litigation

I watched Perry Mason (played by Raymond Burr from 1957 to 1966) as a kid. More about why that’s relevant in a bit. If you have watched any TV courtroom drama – Matlock (played by Andy Griffith from 1986-1995) works if you were too young to watch Perry Mason – you know the drill: the defense attorney represents falsely accused people and he manages to prove that by drawing out the real criminal on the witness stand, usually...

Kollman & Saucier

03/08/2021

Disability & Leave

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is most frequently associated with protecting individuals with actual disabilities and requiring employers to make reasonable accommodations (that are not undue hardships) to enable those individuals to perform the essential functions of their jobs. What is sometimes overlooked (or possibly forgotten) is that the requirement of an “actual” disability is only one leg of the ADA triangle:...

Kollman & Saucier

01/13/2021

Public Sector Employment Law

That pesky old First Amendment “freedom of speech thing” has been in the news a lot lately. The issue of whether a public employee’s speech is protected has Supreme Court underpinnings. In Pickering v. Bd. of Ed. of Twp. High Sch. Dist., 391 U.S. 563 (1968) the Court created a balancing test that looks to whether an employee (1) spoke on a matter of public concern; (2) spoke as a private citizen rather than a public employee; and (3)...

< 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 … 34 >

Email Updates

Reasonable Accommodation and the ADA’s Interactive Process

Bonus and Volunteer Work Counts Toward Overtime? Fourth Circuit says “No!”

A Reminder of the Importance of the ADA’s Interactive Process

Building Trust as We Return to the Workplace

Is a Broken Little Toe a FMLA Serious Health Condition? Ask the Jury.

It’s Time to file EEO-1 Reports

It’s Called the Bermuda Triangle of Leave for a Reason: It’s Got Three Parts.

“Gotcha Moment” Backfires on Lawyer

Police Applicant’s “Regarded As” Disability Claim Gets A Second Chance

First Amendment Protections Mean Officer’s Claim Proceeds

Email Updates

Email Updates

Author: Kollman & Saucier

Email Updates