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.

Luminant Mining Company LLC Settles EEOC Disability Lawsuit

Luminant Mining Company LLC, a Dallas, Texas coal mining company, will pay $150,000 to a former equipment operator to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the EEOC.

 

The EEOC charged in its lawsuit that the coal mine fired equipment operator James Tarver nine days after receiving information from a doctor indicating that he was disabled, and recommending an accommodation that the company could have easily granted. Tarver was born with a clubfoot and wears a foot brace. He requested that he not be required to stand on concrete more than one hour per day, as an accommodation to his disability. Tarver was hired to operate heavy equipment. After initially working in that capacity, Tarver's supervisor started making Tarver perform manual labor in the coal barn. This required standing on concrete all day long sweeping coal dust and washing the concrete floor.

 

According to the consent decree settling the suit Luminant  Mining Company agreed to pay $150,000 to James Tarver and will train all  employees on the requirements and prohibitions of the ADA. The company will also develop policies to provide for reasonable accommodation and to prohibit discrimination and retaliation.

 

"This is what can happen when a company flatly refuses to maintain and enforce an ADA reasonable accommodation policy," said the EEOC Attorney. "Every employer, large and small, needs to recognize the importance of engaging in the interactive process once aware that an employee needs an accommodation. Mr. Tarver's supervisor forced him work while standing all day on concrete when he could have easily allowed Tarver to operate heavy equipment, as he was hired to do. Management then compounded the ADA violation with a termination."

 

There are many discriminatory assumptions about disabilities in today's workplaces. When an employer responds to a requested accommodation by simply challenging the employee's general fitness and ability to do a job for which he had already been deemed qualified, a red flag should go up.

 

Criminal Background Checks Can Lead to Race Complaints

Federal regulators Tuesday accused two large employers of improperly using criminal-background checks in hiring, the latest salvo in a contentious debate over whether such screening amounts to discrimination against black applicants.

 

In complaints filed in federal courts in Illinois and South Carolina, the EEEOC said two companies, discount retailer Dollar General Corp. and a U.S. unit of BMW generally barred potential employees based on the criminal checks, when they should have reviewed each applicant. The commission said the policies had the effect of discriminating against black applicants.

 

The suits underscore increasing government scrutiny of criminal and credit checks, which are widely used to screen job applicants. Some 92% of employers use criminal-background checks for some or all job openings, according to a 2010 survey by the Society of Human Resource Management.

 

The EEOC issued guidance to employers last year, shortly after a unit of PepsiCo Inc. agreed to pay $3.1 million and change its screening policy to settle charges of discriminating against blacks by improperly using criminal checks. In some cases, the Pepsi bottling unit screened out applicants who had been arrested but never convicted.

 

The guidelines don't bar the use of criminal checks, but urge employers to consider the crime, its relation to an applicant's potential job, and how much time that has passed since the conviction. The guidelines also recommend that employers review each case individually, and allow applicants to show why they should be hired despite a conviction.

 

People convicted of crimes don't get special protections under civil-rights laws, but the EEOC can sue if it believes information about prior convictions is being used to discriminate against a racial or ethnic group.

 

The legality of a screening test is going to depend on what they're doing for you and what the nature of the conviction was. A growing number of states and cities regulate the use of background checks for employment. In California AB 218 bans their use for government employees prior to making a contingent job offer.

 

The government rules can pose challenges for employers. For instance; companies don't want people convicted of financial crimes handling money or people with violent histories to be in contact with customers. They also may create conflicts with other laws that ban people convicted of certain crimes from working in specific workplaces, such as schools or hospitals.

 

Factoids

• In 2012 the average out-of-pocket cost for medical expenses was $768, an increase of 4.8%.
• The 8 most popular countries for medical tourism are: Mexico, India, Thailand, Germany, Brazil, Singapore, Costa Rica, and Colombia.

• 401(k) plan participation rates:

• Without automatic enrollment – 37.4%
• With automatic enrollment – 85.9%

• Supervisors who are given goals that they believe are exceedingly difficult to attain are more likely to be viewed as abusive by their subordinates (University of Toronto study)

 

Quotes

“My idea of an agreeable person is a person who agrees with me.”

~Benjamin Disraeli~