Rapid Response Investigations Are on the Rise: Best Practices for Employer Responses

In this podcast, recorded at the firm’s national Workplace Strategies seminar, Amanda Quan, the office managing shareholder of the firm’s Cleveland office, and Stephen Quezada, a shareholder in our Houston office, discuss disciplining an employee who has engaged in a protected activity.  Our speakers offer ten practical steps that employers can take to minimize the risk of a retaliation claim when disciplining employees who have engaged in protected activities, such as making a harassment or discrimination claim, requesting a leave of absence or accommodation, filing a workers’ compensation claim, or reporting a safety concern. Amanda and Stephen offer key takeaways related to the documentation and timing of employee discipline.

This episode of Workplace Strategies Watercooler, which was recorded at Ogletree Deakins’ national Workplace Strategies seminar, features a discussion of reasonable accommodation issues emerging from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), state paid leave laws, and mini-FMLA laws. Our speakers included Shareholder Charles L. Thompson, IV (co-chair of the firm’s Leaves of Absence/Reasonable Accommodation Practice Group, Shareholder Stacy Bunck (Kansas City), and Shareholder John Stretton (Stamford). The podcast addresses the many facets of employers’ accommodations obligations, including timeframes for action, the interactive process, documentation requirements, intermittent claims, and return-to-work issues.

From Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) fraud and abuse to intermittent leave, the number of challenging leave situations that employers potentially face may seem infinite. In this podcast, Sarah Platt and Suzanne Watson provide employers with practical tips and tools for managing vexing leave issues and curbing misuse of leave.