Employers Should Not Turn A Blind Eye To Employees With Vision Disabilities
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
Picture this: a young adult gets a new job at an upscale fish market. The adult, let’s call him Sam, tells his supervisor that while he wears contacts, he has night blindness so that he cannot see in dimming light, and he wears contact lenses to manage his extremely severe nearsightedness. The supervisor does not…
Read More Have You Heard? The EEOC Issued New Guidance About Hearing Disabilities In the Workplace
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) wants to remind employers that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects deaf applicants and employees as well as those who have milder hearing disabilities. Employers want to listen carefully. Puns aside, the newly released EEOC Guidance extensively explains a few salient topics: The EEOC, the federal agency that…
Read More Providing An Accommodation Is Not “A Shield From Criticism”
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
In yesterday’s “Work Friend” column in The New York Times, “Anonymous” writes to columnist (and acclaimed author) Roxane Gay complaining that a direct report’s chronic health condition causes unpredictability in attendance and inconsistent performance. Anonymous writes that HR supports and works with this employee. (Yay HR!) But Anonymous is frustrated because when trying to provide…
Read More Employers Shouldn’t Monkey Around When It Comes To MonkeyPox
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
What do employers need to think about when it comes to monkeypox? Declared as a public health emergency earlier this month, I can see the collective thought bubble in the minds of employers when they contact employment counsel to discuss a plan of action when it comes to monkeypox: “here we go again.” In the…
Read More Employers, Here’s New EEOC Pandemic Guidance About COVID-19 Testing
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
They say two heads are better than one. Thankfully, I have the benefit of multiple excellent brains within the employment group at FisherBroyles, including my law partner Gordon Berger. Gordon not only informed me that yesterday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its COVID-19 pandemic guidance, but he sent a summary of the new guidance…
Read More Companies Confounded by RTO Conflicts
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
RTO or “return to work” issues continue to plague employers. Executives tend to want workers to come into the workplace, and employees collectively respond “Meh. We’ll see.” Employers, I implore you to craft your RTO policies with enough flexibility to maintain that workplace culture you think you are cultivating by trying to mandate attendance in…
Read More Employer Fails To See ADA Implications Of Its Actions
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
Most employers know that discriminating against an employee based on a disability is wrong. Time and again, however, employers fail to consider the “perceived as disabled” prong of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). One management services organization that supports eye care providers learned this costly lesson when it settled a lawsuit filed by the…
Read More COVID-19 Vaccine Policy Exemptions—It’s a Process
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
The interactive process, that is. Doctors writing bogus opt-out letters. An online religious exemption package for sale with “a personalized exemption letter” and “a signed attestation of faith from Pastor David,” which my partner Eric Meyer wrote about a few weeks ago. Bogus claims that a drug that treats parasitic worms in livestock as a…
Read More Careful With Those Return To Work Policies
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
I had the pleasure this week of speaking with Washington Post Work Advice columnist Karla Miller about pitfalls that employers face when creating return-to-work policies. Karla was asked why parents could continue to work remotely but not workers on the same team without young children—could this be discrimination? Well, it depends. When it comes to…
Read More Employers, How Are You Handling Ruff Requests?
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
As COVID-19 vaccines become more readily available to more people and states ease gathering restrictions, employees are steadily, if slowly, returning to the office. As life returns to a semblance of normal, I wonder if employers will see an increase in requests from employees to bring their emotional support animals (“ESAs”) to work. Indeed, mental…
Read More AMY EPSTEIN GLUCK
Amy Epstein Gluck has represented individuals and corporate clients in Virginia, Washington, D.C., and various federal district courts for more than twenty years. Ms. Epstein Gluck’s current practice areas include employment law—advising on and drafting employment agreements; handling employment negotiations, severance agreements, noncompete and nondisclosure agreements, “wrongful terminations” and other EEO matters; representation at the EEOC level; advising employers about discrimination laws and how to remain in compliance, and employment negotiations.
RICHARD COHEN
Richard Cohen has litigated and arbitrated complex corporate, commercial and employment disputes for more than 35 years, and is a trusted advisor to business owners and in-house counsel both in the United States and internationally. His clients have included Fortune 100 companies, domestic and foreign commercial and investment banks, Pacific-rim corporations and real estate development companies, as well as start-up businesses throughout the United States.
