There is no doubt that the ADA protects alcoholism as a disability. The law, however, draws a line between protected addiction and unprotected on-the-job misconduct , even when the former causes the latter.
This case will test the limits of that line.
Yes, labor unions have a right to exist, and, yes, employees have the right to join them, and, yes, unions have the right to collectively bargain for wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. When the NLRB operates correctly, it balances the rights of employers, unions, and employees to maintain industrial peace. Currently, the NLRB is not operating correctly.
My main critique of the NLRB is not with its handling of the 7% of the American workforce that is collectively bargained (although that has issues too), but instead with its handling of the other 93%. The NLRB has waged a war over the past five years on the issue of protected concerted activity, and nowhere do the NLRB’s opinion and my opinion differ more than over the issue of employee handbooks and workplace policies.
What about the workplace? Can you legally decorate for the holidays at work? And, if you do, does the law require that you accommodate all religions in your holiday displays? The answer might surprise you.
Yesterday afternoon was the Fall Play-In at my daughter’s school. It’s essentially a music recital for the kids in grades K – 5 who take private music lessons. Amid a chorus of Christmas and classical pieces on the grand piano, Norah rocked The Who’s I Can See For Miles on her Fender, which she recently started learning. Like always she’s her own toughest critic. To me, and everyone else there, she sounded great.
Here’s the rest of what I read this week:
It’s not right that we have to think about how to respond if an active shooter enters your workplace. It’s not right that the phrase active shooter is even part of our vocabulary. But, we do, and it is. And your business needs to know how to respond in the event this evil enters your business.
Thankfully, your friendly neighborhood Department of Homeland Security has put together a guide on how to respond to an active shooter [pdf].
Regardless, yesterday the EEOC published information on the legal rights of employees living with HIV.
Most importantly, employers need to understand that the the ADA makes no distinction between an employee who has asymptomatic HIV and one who suffers with the AIDS virus. An employer cannot discriminate against an employee because of one’s HIV status, and an employer must make reasonable accommodation, if necessary, to enable that employee to perform the essential functions of the job.
First, McDonald’s Corp. agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle a lawsuit claiming that it had failed to compensate a class of employees for time associated with cleaning work uniforms.
On the heels of that story, Employment Law360 reported that new federal-court wage-and-hour suits hit an all-time high in 2015, up 8% from 2014 (8,781 versus 8,160).
What does this mean for employers?