Firing Alcoholic Employee for Relapse Is Not ADA Violation, Third Circuit Holds
“The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has ruled that a freight transportation company did not violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other antidiscrimination laws when it fired an alcoholic employee who violated a Return to Work (RWA) agreement. In Ostrowski v. Con-way Freight, the RWA violation occurred when the employee suffered a relapse after returning from a leave of absence to undergo rehabilitation for alcoholism.”
The Top Five Areas to Monitor for Employee Fraud
“The most recent edition of The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) “Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse,” issued in 2012, states that the median loss of each instance of employee fraud in their study was $140,000. More than one-fifth of these cases caused losses of at least $1 million. Even in a large, multi-billion dollar organization, that amount is significant.”
How to Let Someone Go
“Firing someone will never be the high point of your career, but there are ways to do it with class…Here’s how to handle an employee’s termination fairly while staying consistent and most of all, lawful.”
Workplace bullying more common than most think
“Bullying among kids and teens often makes the headlines, but the harassment is common among adults, as well. / A 2010 survey by the Workplace Bullying Institute found that 35 percent of the U.S. workforce reported being bullied at work. Other studies have reported that 1 in 4 people have experienced some form of bullying at work.”
Depression ‘second leading cause of disability worldwide’
“…disability as a result of depression was found to mainly affect people in their working years, and women were more affected than men.”
Want to Boost Retention? Adopt an Early Recognition Strategy
“Retaining employees within the first five years of service can be a challenge. / In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average job tenure of American workers across all industries is 4.6 years, with the highest levels of retention occurring in the public sector (7.8 years) and the lowest in Leisure and Hospitality services (2.4 years). Millennial workers reported the lowest overall average tenure of 3.2 years.”
Addicts may be seeking relief from emotional lows more than euphoric highs
“Cocaine addicts may become trapped in drug binges – not because of the euphoric highs they are chasing but rather the unbearable emotional lows they desperately want to avoid.”
Stress At Work Contributes To Poor Job Performance More Than Personal Or Financial Worries
“Stress at work contributes to poor job performance more than stress at home or financial worries, according to a study by the Integrated Benefits Institute. IBI is the leading workforce health and productivity research and measurement organization. / Employees’ job performance—as assessed through self-reported ratings on how often the employee was not careful, had difficulty concentrating, got less done than others and at times got no work done—steadily declines as stress at work increases. Among employees who never experience stress at work, 68% perform at or above the average performance of the overall sample. At the other end of the spectrum, just 41% of employees who experience permanent or continual workplace stress perform at that performance level.”
Related: Four Ways Bosses Cause Stress in the Workplace
Quick Takes
- States Announce 2014 Unemployment And Disability Insurance Taxable Wage Bases
- Leadership Lessons from Big Papi
- Employee medical exams and the law – how much do you know?
- How to Manage Biased People
- 10 Essential Rules of Business Email
- Do’s and don’ts of investigating job candidates
- 8 Signs You’re About To Hire The Wrong Person
- What Employers Should Not Keep in Personnel Records
- Close Shave: Is it Legal to Set a No-Beard Policy for Male Staff?
- The 9 Essential Skills of Human Resources Management – How Many Do You Have?
- Drowning in a Sea of Technology
- November is peak deer-auto collision month
- Red Sox nutritionist dishes about World Series-winning diets
- Mediterranean diet: small changes, big benefits
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Want to ensure a winning team in your organization? In addition to help for your employees, ESI EAP offers a full suite of tools for supervisors and managers, including our ESI Management Academy. Trainings cover compliance issues, management skills and more. If you want to learn more about how ESI can provide more employee EAP benefits and more employer services, call us at 800-535-4841.