As the return to offices continues, more employers and HR professionals are paying attention to the potential legal risks posed by reluctant returning staff.
The reality is that RTO is a messy business, and employers leave themselves open to discrimination claims from employees, should they allow remote accommodations to certain employees who request it and not others, without a clear explanation, according to legal experts.
That goes doubly so if returning to offices wasn’t explicitly outlined in their original employment contracts.
“I’ve been talking to clients about this [legal risks of RTO] for years, and I think there is a resurgence in the dialogue around it in light of what’s going on with government employees,” said Stephanie Gantman Kaplan, partner at Blank Rome and vice chair of the labor and employment practice group.
“I've been talking to clients about this for years, and I think there is a resurgence in the dialogue around it in light of what's going on with government employees."
Stephanie Gantman Kaplan
The biggest legal risk for both private and government employers now under an RTO mandate is around accommodations, according to workplace experts. Last year the top requested accommodation was remote work, according to a survey from AbsenceSoft, a platform for leave of absence and accommodations management, which included responses from 2,400 HR leaders and employees.
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) employers are required to...
The Stop Killing Games campaign has continued building momentum in recent weeks, even popping up during at least one publisher shareholder meeting. With over 1.4 million signatures in support, the...