We provide an in-depth review of the United States Supreme Court’s interpretation of federal pregnancy discrimination law.

When people think about personal injury or wrongful death claims regarding nursing homes, falls, malnutrition, medication errors, choking, and abuse by staff and other residents come to mind. But burns are also a significant issue for nursing home residents. A nursing home facility's duty to protect its residents includes an obligation to prevent injuries or death caused by burning.

This might seem like a no-brainer, unless you're an employer trying to dodge overtime liability, but employers can't avoid overtime liability simply by telling employees to underreport their hours worked and then rely on employees' compliance with that directive to defeat an overtime lawsuit.

One form of FMLA employer interference involves an employee’s right to FMLA leave in the form of a reduced schedule or intermittent absences. FMLA confusion can arise when employers and employees are not familiar with the key aspects of reduced scheduled or intermittent leave under the FMLA.

Aggressive nursing home residents may create a risk for others at the facility. Injuries to nursing home residents by other residents is increasingly being recognized as a significant problem.

A major and very common issue in nursing home facilities is medication errors. Medication errors are mistakes that occur while nursing home staff is preparing or administering medicine. Medication errors can occur because staff violates doctor’s orders, accepted professional standards, or manufacturer’s instructions.

Many nursing home residents have difficulty swallowing food. Nursing home facilities thus need to carefully supervise and monitor such residents' food intake. Choking dangers are multiplied when the nursing home staff does not take proper care of the resident. 

Most insurance policies give your insurer the right to demand that you submit to an "examination under oath" as part of the claims process. Your insurance policy likely obligates you to cooperate with your insurer and give an examination under oath if you want the claim covered. An examination under oath allows your insurance company to question you about your insurance claim while you are under oath and subject to penalties for perjury.

Nursing home residents are often unable to move around the facility on their own. Instead, they need help from the facility's staff. While that can usually be accomplished by use of a wheelchair, the resident may need assistance transitioning from a bed or chair into the wheelchair. Nursing home falls or drops frequently occur during that crucial transition period.

With school starting, parents will again be sending their children off on field trips. Part of that process involves the parents signing permission slips that often include language immunizing the school for any injuries to the child that occur during the field trip. Luckily for the parents and the children who might be hurt, field trip liability waivers are invalid and unenforceable under Iowa law. 

When an individual decides to request accommodation, the individual must let the employer know that an adjustment or change at work is necessary for a reason related to a medical condition. A request for reasonable accommodation is the first step in an informal, interactive process between the individual and the employer. I'll discuss that "interactive process" in more detail in a later blog post.

The FMLA requires employers to provide their employees with both general and specific FMLA notices. We discuss both types.

We sometimes encounter employers who either don't know or don't care that a pregnancy, although temporary, leads to significant employee rights. On the one hand, many employers treat pregnant employees quite well, often as a result of traditional decency and practices, rather than because of any legal obligations. But employers who choose not to do that can run afoul of special laws that apply to pregnant employees, such as those governing maternity and pregnancy leave.

Management employees must have a certain level of personnel authority in order to qualify for the “executive exemption” and thus be ineligible for overtime. We share our thoughts regarding that requirement.