Employer Law Blog

On March 18, 2015, the General Counsel of the NLRB issued a report providing guidance to employers regarding handbook rules which violate Section 8(a)(1) of the NLRA as well as specimen policies which don’t violate the Act in the General Counsel’s opinion.

Last month, the Northern District of Illinois recently ruled in Isbell v. John Crane, Inc., that an Employer violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA” or “the Act”) when it unilaterally changed an Employee’s later start time as an accommodation for her difficulty functioning in early morning. For two years, the Employer granted the Employee a later start time to accommodate for her difficulty being able to work effectively until the Employee’s medication had an opportunity to take effect. The Employee was diagnosed with attention deficit and bipolar disorders.

The FMLA provides certain protections to employees. It is important that employers familiarize themselves with these protections. Employees claiming FMLA leave have two separate potential paths of recovery against employers – retaliation and interference.