ADA TRAINING: An Ounce of Prevention for Your Business
By Marti Cardi, Employment Law Attorney
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Failure to train managers about workplace requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act can lead to punitive damages against the employer, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has held. Without training of supervisors, an employer's written antidiscrimination policy and ADA compliance manual were not enough to protect the employer from liability for ADA violations by its managers. |
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The Goals of Supervisor Training
Virtually all employers are aware of the need for good written employment policies as one tool to reduce the risk of employee claims. Simply having written policies, however, is not enough. A training program that supplements the employer's policies provides both a better chance of success in an employee lawsuit and, more importantly, avoidance of employee claims in the first place.
Supervisors are not expected to become experts in employment law through an in-house training program. Rather, the program should provide supervisors with just enough knowledge and awareness of current law so that they become effective "issue spotters" in the workplace – identifying and reporting an employee issue or sensitive situation to Human Resources for guidance and handling before the problem ripens into an employee charge or lawsuit.
Topics for a Supervisor Training Program
Supervisor training topics generally address two overlapping concerns: compliance with employment laws, and compliance with the employer's policies and practices. Frequent topics include:
- discrimination, harassment, and retaliation;
- handling discipline and discharge;
- the Americans with Disabilities Act and 2009 amendments;
- the Family and Medical Leave Act and 2009 amended regulations;
- electronic communications and social media;
- interview questions;
- wage and hour issues; and
- issues relevant to the particular employer or industry (for example, safety or confidentiality)
Who Should Receive Training, and How Often?
All employees who serve as direct supervisors of other employees should receive training. That includes upper level management or the executive team. High-ranking managers and executives may encounter problems with their own direct reports, and the higher level the problem, the greater the potential liability. Moreover, a company can emphasize its commitment to compliance with employment laws and its own policies if the highest echelons of employees receive the training — showing they are not "above" such issues. This is critical both in defense of a lawsuit and also in communicating to all employees that such compliance is important.
There are no strict rules regarding how often an employer should train its supervisors to minimize its risk of liability. However, if the particular manager who mishandles an employee situation has NOT received training, it doesn't really matter whether other managers have. Employees new to a supervisory role are particularly at risk of making mistakes. Provide initial training as soon as practical, followed by periodic re-training for all supervisors (perhaps annually) to serve as reminders and to update the supervisors on new developments. If the employer has a large number of supervisors or a high rate of manager/supervisor turnover, training should be provided more frequently (perhaps every six months), for new supervisors and on a rolling basis for those who have not had training within the last twelve months.
A typical training session will take three to four hours, and can be done in groups of any size that space permits, although groups of no more than 30 are usually more effective to foster questions and discussion. The session will include discussion of basic legal requirements and examples of common problems. Keeping records of the training as well as the roster of attendees is key to receiving the benefit of the training if legal action arises.
Conclusion
If a training program eliminates even a single lawsuit because a manager knows how to recognize an issue and when to contact Human Resources, the training program easily will have paid for itself.
Author Credit: Marti Cardi, 303-917-5025, mjcardi@gmail.com |
