Individuals with serious disabilities encounter many difficulties when attempting to enter the workforce. They may have physical or mental deficiencies that make it difficult, if not impossible, to become competitively employed. There are, however, incentives and exceptions to normal workplace rules that “even the playing field” for employees and employers alike.

Undoubtedly, many employers think that employing a developmentally disabled worker is fraught with pitfalls. You may worry about making all the necessary accommodations. Or maybe you’re concerned about the disabled individual’s interactions with coworkers (and vice versa) or how reliable he’ll be. There are many legitimate concerns. However, employing the developmentally disabled can be a win-win situation for everyone involved. The disabled individual is empowered by his employment and you provide a service to the individual and the community at large. Several incentives are available to employers to encourage employment of the developmentally disabled.

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Employment law attorney Justin Pierce tackles the tough question of whether an employer should allow an employee to hang a “Happy Birthday, Jesus” sign in his office.

Q Last year at Christmas, one of our employees, we’ll call him “Bob,” put up a small sign in his office that read “Happy Birthday, Jesus.” A non- Christian employee was recently heard saying that he was offended by the sign last year and that if Bob puts it up again this year, he’s going to file a complaint. We figured it’s better to find out now how to react to an anticipated complaint that may come as a result of the sign. If Bob puts the sign up again, should we tell him to take it down? If not, what do we do if another employee complains about the sign?

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The workplace isn’t meant to be a play zone, but workers who feel a sense of camaraderie tend to be more effective and satisfied. That is especially important in an office where employees come from diverse backgrounds because it serves to build a common bond, which should lead to better working relationships. Try to promote that sense of camaraderie through occasional company-sponsored events. Here are some ideas that will be free or relatively cheap for you while encouraging your employees to have fun together and build relationships within your company:

• Have potluck lunches with a theme.

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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently announced a record-setting settlement resolving a class-action lawsuit against Sears, Roebuck and Co. under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for $6.2 million and significant remedial relief. The consent decree, approved on September 29, represents the largest ADA settlement in a single lawsuit in EEOC history. The EEOC’s suit alleged that Sears maintained an inflexible workers’ compensation leave exhaustion policy and terminated employees instead of providing them with reasonable accommodations for their disabilities in violation of the ADA.

The case arose from a discrimination charge filed with the EEOC by a former Sears service technician. According to the commission, the employee was injured on the job, took workers’ comp leave, and, although still disabled by his injuries, repeatedly attempted to return to work. The EEOC alleged that Sears never provided the employee with a reasonable accommodation that would have put him back to work and instead fired him when his leave expired. According to EEOC, discovery in the lawsuit (the pretrial exchange of evidence) revealed that hundreds of other employees who had taken workers’ comp leave were also terminated and that Sears never seriously considered reasonable accommodations to return them to work while they were on leave or seriously considered whether a brief extension of their leave would make their return possible.

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