On December 21, 2023, a proposed consent decree was filed to the tune of $54 million to settle a lawsuit filed in 2021 alleging various forms of sex bias, discrimination, harassment, and more.
SCOTUS Declines to Hear ADA Reasonable Accommodation Case
An employee seeks a reasonable accommodation. You determine that you are not able to provide any reasonable accommodation for the employee to perform the essential functions of the current job. You have no vacant position into which you can transfer or place the employee.
What do you do? Fire the employee? Invite the employee to resign? What about an unpaid leave of absence? Is that a reasonable accommodation under the ADA?
Before you fill a vacancy, you need to decide what type of worker you need and want. Do you want to hire an employee or engage a worker like a volunteer, unpaid intern, or independent contractor?
One company learned that preparatory lesson the hard way and to the tune of $532K. Ouch!
Consultant Makes it Rain $90K Against Client-Employer
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) covers employers with 20 or more employees. It prohibits discrimination against individuals age 40 or above. You have two applicants: one is age 49, the other is age 41.
If you hire the 41-year-old, can you violate the ADEA since both are over 40?
What if you did not interview the candidate but hired a consultant to do so for you; can you be held liable if the consultant engages in actual or perceived discriminatory conduct?
You classify some workers as independent contractors. Since they are not your employees, you do pay them well and give them some perks, but you do not pay them overtime. If they sue you for misclassification and you are found guilty, can you offset the back wages that you owe and any penalties or fines by requiring those workers to repay some of the compensation you already provided to them?
Kick off 2024 with new opportunities for professional development!
Happy New Year!!
January 16th - "Managing When You Feel Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place," FREE Event hosted by JCC's Ignite Services, Noon - 1:30 p.m. ET
January 24th, "Wage & Hour Updates Impacting Non-Exempt Employees," $25 pp (except annual subscribers), New Time to Include our West Coast HR Peeps! Noon - 1:15 p.m. ET Pre-approved by HRCI & SHRM for 1.25 credits.
