Employment Law Changes May Impact Your Benefits Plans

Employment Law Changes May Impact Your Benefit Plans

Changes in Employment law both on the Federal side and the State level may have an impact on your current HR policies. Since the laws are relatively new there has not been many court cases both on the federal and state level so our employment lawyers do not have many court rulings to make a decision by. Here are two examples one for Federal law and one for the state of Nevada (which is where I currently live) that will have impact.

ADAAA (ADA Amendment Act)
The EEOC is currently looking to revise that portion of its current regulation that defines the term “substantially limits” as “significantly restricted” to be consistent with this act including all amendments made by this Act. The EEOC is taking a position that certain conditions constitute a Disability (i.e. Cancer, Epilepsy, MS & Diabetes). Medications, medical supplies, equipment or appliances, low vision devices (except for glasses and Contacts), prosthetics and mobility devices may not consider as mitigating measures. The agency states that individuals should be analyzed without regard to “surgical interventions; this will cause concern for all our businesses for something as simple as routine stitches may qualify consequently creating a record of disability for an employee. One positive note, the EEOC still takes the position that a condition must last several months to be sufficiently classified as long term. Businesses trying to comply with the new Amendment will be asking themselves should they just assume that an employee is disabled? The current answer is “maybe”, if the accommodations are not too burdensome the companies may decide to make them, however if it is a burdensome effort, companies may decide not too.
A new law that just went into effect August 15, 2009 entitled the Nevada Parental Leave Law, allows employees of companies with 50 or more employees to take up to 4 hours of unpaid leave to attend school function for their child. If an employee has more than one child the law states this benefit is per child. It applies for parents who children are in public or private school. The law covers the following:
• School related activities during regular school hours
• Parent – Teacher conferences
• Volunteer or be involved at the school
• School sponsored event
The unpaid leave must be taken in increments of at least one hour. The law prohibits termination, demotion, suspension or discrimination. Violation by a business will be considered a misdemeanor. Employees can file claim with the Nevada Labor Commission- school must provide the form. Employee may recover lost wages and benefits and reinstatement.
Finally like our legal department it is becoming more and more apparent that we as HR professionals must also stay on top of the changes in Employment Law for the impact that it has on our businesses.