In order to ensure a safe workplace while fully complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), employers need to understand their rights and responsibilities, as well as the rights of job applicants and employees.

For many companies this time of year means planning the annual holiday party. This is not as simple as it seems. When employees cut loose at company-sponsored functions, the results can lead to sexual harassment charges and other liability issues.

As the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) beefs up its whistleblower program, employers should brace themselves for more claims and investigations. Over the last year, OSHA has been developing a “multifaceted plan for strengthening the enforcement of 21 whistleblower laws under its jurisdiction.”

Disability claims are always challenging for employers, but this is especially the case when pregnant workers suffer complications that leave them unable to perform their normal job duties.

For the first time, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has revealed how many discrimination charges and which types of charges have been filed in each state and territory since 2009. Now, companies can access this information for each state where they have sites and offices.

Companies that routinely conduct criminal background checks need to take another look at their current policies and procedures. In April, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued new guidance about the use of arrest and conviction records in hiring.

Companies with federal contracts or subcontracts may soon risk losing their contracts if they do not meet quotas to hire more disabled workers. Proposed rule changes would require employers with federal contracts and subcontracts to set a hiring goal that 7 percent of their employees are qualified workers with disabilities.

Along with underfunded corporate and public pensions, many union pensions are massively in the red. For employers who have union workers who participate in these types of multiemployer pension plans, the growing liability involved with withdrawing from pension funds presents a serious issue.

Striking the balance between the need to hire qualified employees and the need to avoid disability discrimination claims has become even more challenging since changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) went into effect in 2009.

If one of your employees calls her boss an insulting or obscene name on her Facebook page, you might think you could fire her without fear of reprisal. But you could be wrong. One company found itself in exactly that situation.