This audio conference was recorded on Wednesday - April 8, 2009

Credits:

This program has been approved for 1.5 recertification credit hours toward PHR and SPHR recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI). For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the HRCI homepage at www.hrci.org. The use of this seal is not an endorsement by HRCI of the quality of the program. It means that this program has met HRCI’s criteria to be pre-approved for recertification.

Description:

The ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) went into effect on January 1. Hopefully, you took that opportunity to get up to speed on your new obligations and responsibilities. You may think the dust has now settled, but significant concerns for employers remain.

For starters, there is still a great deal of uncertainty about what constitutes a “reasonable accommodation.” Also, you may be required to engage in the interactive process following a request for accommodation. Even if your refusal to grant an accommodation doesn’t land you in court, failing to comply with the interactive process to the full extent required could land you in a heap of legal trouble.

Add to the mix recently released guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on how to apply performance and conduct standards to disabled employees, and there’s still plenty to learn for even the most experienced HR professional.

Order this in-depth 90-minute audio conference recording all about these new obligations.

Speaker(s):

Talar M. Herculian, Esq., is a partner at the Irvine, California, office of Fisher & Phillips, LLP. She devotes her time exclusively to the representation of management in employment disputes before state and federal tribunals. Herculian also regularly advises employers regarding preventive measures and has presented several seminars to clients regarding various employment-related topics, including sexual harassment, family and medical leave, disability accommodations and hiring/firing practices. She also has past experience at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Christina M. Kotowski, Esq., is Of Counsel at the San Francisco office of Fisher & Phillips, LLP. Her practice includes advising employers and HR professionals on disability and family and medical leave issues under California and federal law, as well as defending related litigation.

You and your colleagues will learn:

• How the courts have treated employers on reasonable accommodation cases – and how to increase your odds of a favorable result
• How to engage in a good-faith interactive process that satisfies your legal obligations and keeps employees satisfied
• How to manage the uncertainty and frustration of a medical leave that keeps being extended by a string of continuous doctor’s notes
• When a transfer to a vacant position would – and would not – probably qualify as a reasonable accommodation
• Whether you ever need to relax your performance and conduct rules as an accommodation
• The type of discipline you can legally administer when a performance or conduct-based accommodation isn’t working out
• Once and for all – the type of documentation that may save you when an ADA litigation storm is brewing