By Marcia Akers

The rules of etiquette define those behaviors that are socially acceptable under particular circumstances. It is not a crime of legal consequence if these unwritten, but widely accepted, standards of proper behavior are broken, but anyone not adhering to them may be ridiculed or ostracized. The Disability Rights Movement popularized the expression “disability etiquette” which describes the guidelines for approaching and interacting with people who have disabilities.

People with disabilities are simply that….people. As it is with all people, those who have a disability have emotions, goals, friends, families, abilities, limitations. And, as it is with all people, those who have a disability deal with life as it presents itself in a way that is comfortable and accommodating so far as they are able and to the extent that our society will allow. read more…

By Tammy Binford

Dad usually gets a new tie or some other token of appreciation from the kids in observance of Father’s Day. But what he may want more is a little extra support at work.

Working moms are often at the center of discussions about work-life balance – how to get the children to school and still get to work on time, how to juggle kids’ activities with work deadlines, etc. – but dads can find themselves in the same bind.

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Since the enactment of the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) in 2009, commentators have been predicting a rise in disability claims. Statistics recently released by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) show that those predictions have come true. In fiscal year 2011, the number of disability discrimination charges filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) rose for the second year, totaling more than one quarter of all charges filed.

Through its enforcement, mediation, and litigation programs, the EEOC won $103.4 million for employees and applicants claiming disability discrimination in 2011, compared to $76.1 million in 2010. That represents a nearly 36 percent increase, the highest increase among all types of charges. And what are the impairments most frequently cited as a “disability” under the ADA? Number one is back impairments (no surprise there), followed by orthopedic impairments, depression, anxiety disorder, and diabetes. read more…

By Tammy Binford

The recession has been discouraging to job seekers of all stripes – those with advanced degrees as well as those without higher education, those in specialized fields and those looking for just any kind of work. Certainly job seekers transitioning out of the military aren’t immune to the difficulties posed by the tough job market. This article will examine why some veterans are having trouble transitioning from the military to employment and what employers can do to help.

Not Just a Statistic

A report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) issued in March shows how recent veterans are faring in their quest to find employment. Veterans who served on active duty any time since September 2001 – a group labeled Gulf War-era II veterans – saw an unemployment rate of 12.1 percent for the year in 2011. That compares to an 8.3 percent 2011 unemployment rate for all veterans (Gulf War-era II vets as well as vets from other time periods). The overall U.S. jobless rate in 2011 was 8.9 percent, according to another BLS report.

A telling statistic in the March BLS report illustrates the difficulty the youngest veterans are having finding work outside the military. Young male veterans (those ages 18-24) who served during Gulf War era II had an unemployment rate of 29.1 percent in 2011, much higher than the 17.6 percent jobless rate of young male nonveterans in 2011. read more…

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently heard testimony on the particular effects the economic downturn has had on older workers, addressing the unfortunate possibility that the recession may be serving as a catalyst for some employers to engage in age discrimination.

Recession Hits Older Workers

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The Washington, D.C., nonprofit research and think tank organization, the Center for Corporate Equality (CCE) has issued a detailed report on “best practices” for conducting the adverse impact analyses, which are used to detect and sometimes litigate employment discrimination claims. The editors of Federal Employment Law Insider interviewed David Cohen, who is on the board of directors at CCE and is the president of DCI Consulting Group, Inc., and a coauthor of the report, and Eric Dunleavy, senior consultant at CCE and DCI Consulting Group, Inc.

Insider: Mr. Cohen and Mr. Dunleavy, thanks for meeting with us today. Can you provide our readers with an overview of the report that is being issued by CCE?

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Diversity consultant and founder of QUEST Diversity Initiatives LLC Natalie Holder-Winfield, wants to make something clear: “When I say ‘diverse,’ I don’t mean it as a stand-in or as another word for ‘minority.’ When I refer to a diverse workforce, I really do mean people of all different ideas, thoughts, cultures, backgrounds, and sexual orientation — that to me makes up a diverse workforce.”

The High Costs of Ignoring Diversity

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As of last year, Babson College in Newton, Massachusetts, had two diversity managers, an assistant dean charged with increasing campus-wide inclusion, and a few HR professionals focused on diversity. But the college’s senior leaders decided that wasn’t enough. In March, they appointed Elizabeth Thornton to be Babson’s first chief diversity officer (CDO).

“The senior leadership felt that the college needed one person to be part of the president’s cabinet to develop an overarching comprehensive and fully integrated strategy to help Babson be in the forefront of this issue of preparing students to be effective transcultural leaders in a global marketplace,” Thornton explains.

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