Americans with Disabilities Act

Seyfarth Synopsis: While employees often will toot their own horn, employers sometimes may have concerns about their ability to safely perform their job. If this situation rings a bell, it will be music to your ears to hear that it may be possible to request employees to undergo a medical examination to certify their fitness for duty.

Fitness for
Continue Reading Is Your Employee As Fit As A Fiddle?

Seyfarth Synopsis: It has long been clear that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and California law protect employees who suffer from alcoholism if it qualifies as a “disability.” Although courts have recognized the right of an employer to have legitimate work rules that prohibit alcohol use in the workplace, the line between having a protected disability and engaging
Continue Reading Addressing Alcoholism in the California Workplace

Seyfarth Synopsis: When must an employer provide leave time in addition to FMLA/CFRA-type leave as a reasonable accommodation? The answer to that question, as with many other leave-related questions, may depend on your location on the map.

Remember that early TV sitcom “Leave It To Beaver,” starring Jerry Mathers as the Beaver? “The Beave” constantly got into trouble
Continue Reading Leave It To California – Post FMLA/CFRA/PDL Leave and FEHA

Seyfarth Synopsis: New Year’s resolutions typically address health and well-being. Many among us have resolved this year to get off the couch, to sweat a bit more often to the “oldies,” to meditate and be mindful, and to eat less cake and fewer tacos. And so one might think that courts would endorse the EEOC’s approval of employer-sponsored wellness
Continue Reading A New Year, A New Wellness Program

By: Kristina Launey and Courtney Bohl

On June 11, 2014, Northern District of California Judge Jon S. Tigar ruled that the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (“DFEH”) has neither standing nor statutory authority to enforce Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”).  The decision made clear that while the DFEH has had authority—since January 1,
Continue Reading Northern District of California Judge Rules DFEH Does Not Have the Authority to Prosecute Violations of Title I of the Americans With Disabilities Act