The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions. Its treatment of essential job functions is where it departs most sharply from the ADA — and where employers applying ADA reasoning get it wrong.
The Key Difference From the ADA
Under the ADA, an individual must be able to perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable
...COBRA obliges covered employers to offer continuation of group health coverage after certain events. The statute is not conceptually difficult; the risk lies almost entirely in notice obligations and deadlines, which are precise and strictly enforced.
Which Employers Are Covered
COBRA generally applies to group health plans maintained by employers with 20 or more employees on more than 50 percent of typical business days in the preceding calendar year. Both full and
...During FMLA leave, an employer must keep the employee's group health plan coverage in place on the same terms as if the employee had continued working, and the employee remains responsible for their usual share of the premium. On return, the employee is entitled to the same or an equivalent job and to have benefits restored without having to requalify. Benefits other than group health coverage follow the employer's rules for other types of leave.
The restoration rules themselves are ...
FMLA eligibility turns on three separate tests. An employee must satisfy all three, and each is measured in a specific way that is easy to apply loosely. Getting eligibility wrong in either direction creates exposure — denying leave to an eligible employee is interference, and granting FMLA-designated leave to an ineligible one can create entitlements the employer did not intend.
Test 1: Twelve Months of Employment
The employee must have been employed by the employer for at
...An employee returning from FMLA leave is entitled to the same or an equivalent job, but that right has defined exceptions. Restoration is not required when the job would have ended anyway (a layoff, a completed project or term), when a qualifying key employee's restoration would cause substantial and grievous economic injury, when the employee cannot perform an essential function of the job, when leave was obtained by fraud, or when the employee breaches a uniformly applied ...
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to keep payroll records for at least three years and supplementary records — timecards, wage-rate tables, work schedules and records of additions to or deductions from wages — for at least two years. The records must be accurate, cover specific data for each non-exempt employee, and be available for inspection by the Department of Labor. No particular format or timekeeping system is required.
Who the Rules Apply To
Every
...ADA accommodation disputes are decided on documentation. Employers who accommodated reasonably but recorded nothing lose cases they should win, because the question is never simply whether the outcome was fair — it is whether the employer engaged in the interactive process in good faith, and that is provable only from records.
What Triggers the Obligation
An accommodation request does not need to be in writing, use the word "accommodation", or mention the ADA. An employee
...Evidence gathered in a workplace investigation must be preserved in the condition it was received, logged, stored securely, and tracked through a chain of custody that records everyone who handled it. Chain of custody is the documentation of an item's collection, custody, control, transfer, analysis and final disposition. Without it, an employer may be unable to show that a document, device or recording relied on in a decision is the same one that was collected — and ...
The FMLA gives employers real tools, not just obligations. An employer may require medical certification and, within limits, recertification; ask employees to schedule planned treatment to reduce disruption; temporarily transfer an employee on foreseeable intermittent leave; require paid leave to run concurrently; require status reports and a fitness-for-duty certification; and recover health premiums from an employee who does not return. Each right comes with conditions, and most FMLA ...
COBRA coverage lasts up to 18 months after a termination of employment or reduction in hours, up to 29 months when a qualified beneficiary is disabled and the disability extension applies, and up to 36 months after other qualifying events such as the employee's death, divorce or legal separation, or a child losing dependent status. These are maximums. Coverage can end sooner for nonpayment or another permitted reason, and a plan may choose to offer longer continuation than the law ...
Errors on a filed Form 941 are corrected on Form 941-X, not by filing an amended 941. The correction process has its own rules, and the most consequential choice — whether you are making an adjustment or a claim — determines how the correction is processed and whether interest applies.
When You Need Form 941-X
Use it to correct errors in reported wages, tips and other compensation; income tax withheld; Social Security and Medicare wages and taxes; and any
...A statement of complaint is the written record of what an employee is alleging, taken at intake before any investigation begins. A good one captures who, what, when, where and who else saw it, in the complainant's own words, along with the specific allegations and the policies they may implicate, and it is signed and dated. It gives the employer an accurate starting point for judging how serious the complaint is and how it should be investigated.
Why the Statement of Complaint
...FMLA claims rarely arise because an employer refused leave outright. They arise from administrative failures — notices sent late, certifications mishandled, intermittent leave miscounted — each of which looks minor in isolation and compounds into an interference or retaliation claim.
These are the failures that recur.
1. Not Recognizing an FMLA Request
Employees are not required to say "FMLA". They are required to provide enough information for the employer to know
...COBRA's election and payment timelines are strict, specific, and among the most litigated parts of benefits administration. Most disputes turn on dates — when a notice was sent, when an election was made, when a payment was postmarked — which makes this an area where documentation matters more than judgment.
The Election Period
A qualified beneficiary must be given an election period of at least 60 days to decide whether to continue coverage. That period
...A dependent care assistance program (DCAP) can only reimburse expenses for the care of a qualifying individual that allow the employee — and a spouse, if married — to work or look for work. Payments to the employee's own dependents or to their child under 19, school tuition from kindergarten up, overnight camp, babysitting for social outings, and premiums for other benefits are all ineligible. Starting in 2026, the annual DCAP exclusion is $7,500 per household ($3,750 for married individuals ...
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