Chapter 23 - Employment Law
3. The ADA forbids discrimination on the basis of disability if the disabled individual
can do the essential functions of the job with “reasonable accommodations.”
4. An accommodation will be reasonable if it permits the disabled individual to
accomplish the essential functions of the job without imposing an undue hardship on
the employer.
5. The ADA also prohibits discrimination on the basis that a person is associated with a
disabled person.
H. The Genetic Information Nondisclosure Act.
1. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). GINA was written to
protect employees by making it unlawful for employers and health insurance
companies to make decisions based on any genetic information that they have
acquired due to any type of genetic testing.
2. Employers, unions, employment agencies, and joint labor–management committees
cannot request, require, or purchase genetic information, unless required by law, used
to protect individuals from toxic substances, or as part of a forensic investigation for
law enforcement purposes.
I. The Whistleblower Acts
1. A whistleblower can be defined as an individual who notifies official federal or state
authorities about illegal activities that take place in business, government, and other
similar settings.
2. The fact that whistleblowers can often be subjected to retaliatory actions by
employers, landlords, law enforcement officials, and other authority figures has
prompted the passage of federal and state laws that protect individuals who have
identified and reported cases of fraud, discrimination, cover-ups, and other similar
illegal activities to the appropriate watchdog agencies.
J. Anti-Retaliation Safeguards
1. Employees may face retaliation after filing a complaint, cooperating with
investigations, or working against discrimination.
2. To demonstrate that retaliation has occurred, an individual must show:
a. that he or she is in a protected class;
b. that retaliation did take place; and
c. that the retaliation took place because of an action that is protected under the law.
3. Protected classes include, race, color, creed, national origin, gender, age, and
disability.
V. Social Media Policies
A. The Social Media Culture
1. To the business person it is not just the devices that are important—is the data itself.
2. Keeping trade secrets and protecting a client’s or an employee’s privacy may also
mean protecting data and, at times, metadata which is data about data
B. The Nature of a Social Media Policy
1. Every business needs to write and enforce a social media policy.
2. A social media policy (SMP) is a set of rules written by an employer telling
employees what they can and cannot do when using electronic communication
devices, formats, websites, and other electronic messaging techniques, such as blogs ,
text messages, tweets, skype transmissions, and e-mails.
C. The Hazards Involved in Social Media
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