"This & That" Tuesday: Applicant Discrimination, Telecommuting Accommodation

April 14, 2015

 

Here is the latest issue of “This & That” Tuesday. I hope you find it to be informative and useful.

 

Announcements

You can always check out my website for upcoming speaking engagements that are guaranteed to be of value to business owners or for a list of topics that I can speak on at Chambers, Clubs, Business Associations, etc. More details about the events, topics and Human Resources 4U, in general, can be found on my website.

 

Upcoming Events (Can be found under the "Speaking" section of my website)

April 21, 2015

2015 Labor Law Update & Paid Sick Leave

Institute of Management Accountants, LA chapter

Information can be found on my website.

 

April 28, 2015

2015 Labor Law Update & Paid Sick Leave

Pomona Rotary Club

Information can be found on my website.

 

June 2, 2015

Understanding and Building a Disciplinary Process

Compliance Key

Webinar

Information can be found on my website.

 

June 4, 2015

East SGV CPA Group

2015 Labor Law Update

Information can be found on my website.

 

June 9, 2015

South Pasadena Rotary Club

The New Paid Sick Leave Act

Information can be found on my website.

 

Tech Giants Settle Class-Action Applicant Lawsuit

Four tech giants, including Apple and Google, settled a class action lawsuit. 64,000 workers claimed the companies conspired to hold down salaries. The plaintiffs will reportedly receive over $300 million, far short of what they were seeking.

 

The plaintiffs were software engineers, animators, programmers and other technology workers employed by Google, Apple, Intel and Adobe Systems. They alleged that the companies agreed not to hire each other’s most valuable employees, and emails between company executives seem to support that.

 

This lawsuit grew out of a Justice Department investigation. It was settled when seven tech companies agreed to drop their no-poaching policies. The workers then sued, seeking compensation. They've already settled with three companies: Disney's Pixar, Lucasfilm and Intuit agreed to pay $20 million.

 

The plaintiffs were seeking $3 billion in damages from the four remaining companies. Anti-trust provisions could have tripled that to $9 billion, if the suit was successful.

 

Work Attendance Can Mean Telecommuting

Attendance at work is an essential part of many jobs, but it doesn’t have to mean an actual presence at a physical site, the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently found in an Americans with Disabilities Act reasonable accommodation case.

 

The action was brought by the EEOC on behalf of a Ford Motors resale buyer who was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Jane Harris was tasked with responding to emergency steel supply issues and making sure manufacturers always had adequate steel supplies available.

She was terminated after asking to work from home several days a week. Harris’ job required group problem solving and interactions with other employees and suppliers, according to the opinion, and Ford took the position that her work was most effectively handled in person, with teleconferencing being an insufficient substitute.

 

Since the EEOC could demonstrate that Harris was qualified for the job if attendance at the office is not considered, the majority wrote, the burden was on Ford to prove her physical presence was an essential function of her work. The employer didn’t make that showing.

 

“When we first developed the principle that attendance is an essential requirement of most jobs, technology was such that the workplace and an employer’s brick-and-mortar location were synonymous,” the majority wrote. “However, as technology has advanced in the intervening decades, and an ever-greater number of employers and employees utilize remote work arrangements, attendance at the workplace can no longer be assumed to mean attendance at the employer’s physical location.”

 

Factoids

Top job satisfaction factors

• Compensation
• Job security
• Opportunities to use your skills and abilities
• Relationship with immediate supervisor
• Benefits

 

Top Employee Engagement factors

• Relationship with co-workers
• Opportunities to use your skills and abilities
• Relationship with immediate supervisor
• The work itself
• Your contributions to company goals

   

Quote of the Blog

“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a holder of consensus.”

~Martin Luther King, Jr.~