This audio conference was recoreded on Tuesday - June 2, 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:

There are times when discipline or termination of a workers’ comp claimant is warranted, just as it would be for any other worker. But you’re walking into a powder keg if you underestimate the legal risks involved.

Once cleared to return to work, a workers’ comp claimant may request a light-duty accommodation, which could trigger ADA protections. You’re also dealing with potential FMLA leave issues, as well as job restoration rights provided by your state’s workers’ comp law. And don’t forget about possible exceptions to the at-will doctrine. One false move and you could find yourself in a heap of legal trouble.

Order this in-depth 90-minute audio conference recording all about disciplining and terminating workers who are out on workers’ comp or have returned to work. Our expert–an experienced labor and employment attorney–will explain how to reduce your legal risks so you can walk this legal tightrope without fear of catastrophe.

Speaker(s):

Patricia S. Eyres, Esq., is a labor and employment lawyer at Stuart Baron & Associates, LLP, in Los Alamitos, California. She focuses on helping employers manage disability discrimination issues for both workers’ comp and nonoccupational disabilities. As president of Litigation Management & Training Services and CEO/Publisher of Proactive Law Press, LLC, Eyres trains managers and supervisors on how to recognize risks, prevent lawsuits, and maintain defensible documentation. She has earned a Certified Speaking Professional designation, the international measure of platform excellence for professional speakers.

You and your colleagues will learn:

• When to consider discipline or termination–and when to hold off
• Hot-button exceptions under disability discrimination laws
• How to document your actions in a legally defensible way
• When an injury may constitute a disability under state and federal law, and the type of light-duty or other accommodations you must provide so a worker can return to work
• The interplay between FMLA, ADA, and workers’ comp leave laws, including how long you must hold open an injured worker’s position and your job-restoration obligations
• The steps you should always take–and the documentation to have on hand–so your actions don’t spark a viable retaliation claim
• How to tell if adverse action is appropriate when the worker’s negligence caused the injury, and if you can refuse accommodation based on the cause of the disability
• What you can legally do once a claimant who reaches maximum medical improvement isn’t able to return to work, with or without medical restrictions, or if he or she refuses to attend vocational rehabilitation
• How the at-will employment doctrine and the many exceptions created by the courts may affect your right to terminate a workers’ comp claimant
• What impact union contracts may have on your discipline and termination game plan