Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
It seems like I’m seeing more and more people with service animals—particularly “comfort animals” meant to ease anxiety or similar problems. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), employers must provide “reasonable accommodations” to employees with disabilities. Does that mean you must allow disabled employees to bring their pets to work? Well, it depends.
Citing a “winter surge” in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Friday, December 10, that a new masking mandate will go into effect on Monday. Read on to understand how your business will be affected by the sudden new requirement, which may scare off both customers and staff alike during […]
Companies—and individuals—are in survival mode right now, facing difficult decisions amid COVID-19 restrictions. Companies are making moves to insulate their businesses from the pandemic’s effects. However, layoffs have already become unavoidable for some industries, while others are in full hiring mode.
Recently, the American Psychiatric Association published its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5). DSM-5 includes several diagnostic categories not present in past editions. In practice, this may mean that more employees may now qualify for protection under the ADA than ever before, and that means you must be at the ready […]
by Jennifer L. Anderson Ebenezer Scrooge is the most infamous of employers — overworking and underpaying his employees, denying their vacation requests, and spreading holiday misery rather than holiday cheer. Fortunately, A Christmas Carol is fiction, and times have changed. These days, most of you decorate your offices, accommodate employees’ vacation requests, provide standard holidays […]
Research highlighted by Harvard Business Review shows that meetings have increased in length and frequency over the past 50 years, to the point where executives now spend an average of approximately 23 hours a week in them (and those hours only account for those meetings that were officially marked on their calendars).
More than 15 percent of all working-age adults live with a mental health condition. Mental health conditions are medical conditions which involve “changes in emotion, thinking or behavior (or a combination of these)” and “can be associated with distress and/or problems functioning in social, work or family activities.” Mental health conditions are prevalent in the […]
On March 7, 2108, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals—which covers Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee—granted summary judgment to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on its claim that a former employee of a funeral home in Michigan was fired from her job because of her transgender status in violation of Title VII of the […]
One of the most exciting aspects of employment law is the inexhaustible list of ways that employees find to get themselves—and their employers—into trouble. Recently, we’ve observed an uptick in electronic security breaches, which makes the close of 2018 a perfect time to refresh ourselves on the “do’s” and “don’ts” of cybersecurity.
Question: We have an employee whose essential functions require the use of their hands. They have requested an accommodation, and their physician has recommended a few weeks of time off until specific medical restrictions can be determined. What is our obligation to pay this employee during this doctor-recommended leave of absence? Answer: The leave of absence […]