Employers that accommodate employees’ temporary disabilities should consider extending the practice to nursing mothers returning to work following maternity leave. That’s the lesson of a recent opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (Hicks v. City of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 11th Cir., 9/7/2017) In Hicks, a City police department’s insistence that an officer return to the beat rather than to allowing her work a temporary desk job resulted in a substantial plaintiff verdict.
Continue Reading Court Affirms Six-Figure Verdict to Nursing Mother Who Quit Because of Employer’s Failure to Provide Suitable Breastfeeding Accommodation
Iowa Employers Should Re-Examine Policies on Pregnancy Accommodation
How to best accommodate pregnant employees is a frequent challenge Iowa employers face. Pregnant employees may be entitled to protection under the laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, as well as those requiring equal treatment based upon gender and disability. Many employers have tried to walk this fine line with policies that allow
How to Avoid Liability for Discrimination
A recent decision from the Eighth Circuit provides good training material about what "not to do" if you want to your company to avoid being liable for discrimination, and possibly punitive damages.
The EEOC filed suit against Siouxland Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Associates, a medical clinic in Sioux Falls South Dakota. The complaint alleged that Siouxland terminated
Iowa Supreme Court Issues Important Ruling on Pregnancy Discrimination
Last week the Iowa Supreme Court issued a ruling in a pregnancy discrimination case that decided three issues significant to employers and employment litigators.
The first issue in DeBoom v. Raining Rose, Inc. involved whether an employee must actually be pregnant at the time of a termination to be protected by the Iowa Civil Rights Act’s