Vets 4212 season starting:  Federal contractors and subcontractors required to report VETS 4212 can start the reporting.  The portal is now open.

Asking about alcohol and drug use during investigation not discriminatory:  In Lansdale v. UPS Supply Chain Solutions, Inc., No. 16-4106 (July 23, 2019), the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota concluded that a jury had sufficient evidence to find that an employer’s discharge of an employee for suspected corporate credit card abuse following an investigation in which the employee was asked about his alcohol use and drinking habits did not constitute disability discrimination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or corresponding state law. The employer had a policy prohibiting employees from using corporate credit cards for personal purchases and providing inaccurate expense reports. Following an audit that revealed discrepancies between the employee’s corporate credit card expenses and expense reports, the employer conducted an investigation.  The evidence showed that the employee was terminated for fraud, and not for answers to those questions relating to a possible disability.  Source:  Ogletree Deakins 8/2/19

Are work expectations overwhelming millennials? A study, from Mental Health America and San Francisco-based Total Brain, found that more than 60% of millennials (ages 18 to 34) surveyed report that stress from work/life imbalance or unrealistic work demands causes them to be mentally unproductive at work.  In the 2019 Total Brain survey of 1,008 Americans, other interesting results include:

• More than one in three 18-34 year-olds say text messages, emails, or social media updates contribute to being mentally unproductive at work
• More than half of 18-34 years-olds describe themselves as severely or moderately mentally fatigued by the current stressors in their lives.

“With work being such an integral part of a person’s life, we can’t ignore the mental-health implications,” says Paul Gionfriddo, MHA’s president and CEO. “At MHA, we know it’s so important for workplaces to consider physical AND mental health, and these results indicate that more employers need to pay attention to both.” Source:  HR Executive 5/29/19

If you didn’t do your current job, what would you rather do? The Randstad Workmonitor survey for Q2 2019 reports that if U.S. employees could time travel back to age 18, 68% would focus on a field of study within STEM (science, technology, engineering, or math) instead of the path they actually chose. The survey was conducted online among employees aged 18-65 who work at least 24 hours a week but are not self-employed. Apparently, with our increasingly digital world, U.S. employees are seeing the value of a STEM education and career path over other tracks. At the same time, 60% believe their employer has trouble finding the right workers for these roles today. U.S. employees don’t seem particularly uneasy about digitalization, though they believe more preparation is needed. For example, 79% feel equipped to deal with digitalization in their job. On the flip side, just 27% expect their job to be automated in the next five to 10 years, making Americans seemingly more optimistic than most of their global counterparts (across 33 countries, 35% of workers feel this way).   Source: HR Executive July 31, 2019

Use of unnecessary testing leads to potential  liability: The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission hit Stan Koch & Sons Trucking Inc. with a class action alleging the company violated sex discrimination law by firing and denying jobs to a class of female drivers who didn't get a minimum score on a fitness test. The suit challenges Koch Trucking's use of the so-called CRT test, which was developed by a company called Cost Reduction Technologies Inc. The test "purports to measure an individual's knee, shoulder, trunk strength, range of motion, and endurance," according to the EEOC's complaint.  The agency alleges that since at least 2013, Koch Trucking has made job applicants undergo this test after giving them conditional offers for "medium duty" driver positions and made existing workers undergo the test when they returned to work from medical leave. If workers did not get a minimum score of 171 on the test, they were fired or denied jobs, the agency said. Such "use of the CRT test has a disparate impact on female job applicants and employees for 'medium duty' driver positions because of sex," the agency alleged.  Source:  Law360 8/7/19

California expanding paid sick leave from 6 weeks to 8 weeks: California is expanding state benefits available to workers who lose wages while taking time off to care for a seriously ill family member or to bond with a new child. On June 27, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed California's 2019-20 state budget, which included an expansion of the state's family temporary disability insurance program administered through the Employment Development Department (EDD). The benefit program is commonly referred to as "paid family leave" or PFL. Senate Bill (SB) 83 provides certain workers with up to eight weeks—up from six weeks—of PFL benefits. The extended maximum leave duration will go into effect on July 1, 2020.  California employers should update their policies.  Source:  Ogletree Deakins 8/2/19

Only in Chicago: Three police communications operators in Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications used intermittent leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to take a Caribbean cruise together in July 2017 — and two of the three took 10 cruises using sick leave and/or FMLA dating as far back as 2010, the city's Office of Inspector General (OIG) revealed in a 2019 second quarter report. The OIG said that records and testimony revealed the cruise was booked almost a full year in advance, and employees used intermittent FMLA leave for at least a portion of the vacation. While on the cruise, the employees "consumed alcohol, went to numerous restaurants, attended night clubs, toured Caribbean islands, went horseback riding, rode jet skis, and even went on a booze cruise" the OIG said in the report.  The OIG also discovered that another worker used intermittent leave to take Caribbean cruises in 2014 and 2017. The OIG said records and testimony revealed that the worker "flew on planes, watched evening movies on the ship deck, ate at restaurants, consumed alcohol, including the 'drink of the day,' toured various islands, shopped and even went to a nightclub while on the cruises." The worker used 19 FMLA days to take the cruises, the OIG said. The worker allegedly admitted in an interview that the use of the leave was "just to get away."  Source:  HR Dive 8/6/19