You may remember a recent case in the 3^rd Circuit Court of Appeals in which an employer was found to have violated the ADA because it did not provide a reasonable accommodation by allowing a visually impaired employee, who could not drive at night, to work days.   Now, a similar case has come out of the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals.  In that case, Livingston v. Fred Meyer Stores, Inc,. the court allowed the case to go forward, finding that a company could be obligated to provide “commuter-related” accommodations.  Additionally there was no evidence that the company engaged in “interactive dialogue” with the employee to determine to her needs and assess her requests.  Rather , it simply fired her when she refused to work her scheduled shift.

Clearly, there is a trend here as the courts are looking at an employee’s ability to get to and from work.  A schedule change, as long as no undue hardship is created, may be a reasonable accommodation.

A day we have been preparing for and wishing would be long in coming has nearly arrived. Effective July 31, 2010 HRN’s Founder, President & CEO, Jerry P. Nelson and Executive Vice President, Jane Haertel are retiring from day to day management responsibilities at HRN. Also retiring, Clinton Koker, President of Koker, Goodwin & Associates, a company acquired by HRN in July, 2009 and now operating as a division of HRN, announced his retirement effective July 1, 2010.

I am pleased and grateful that Jerry, Jane and Clinton will remain with HRN in the capacity of advisors and consultants.

This forthcoming leadership transition has been expected and planned for over the past six months.  Out of respect for the wishes of Jerry, Jane, and Clinton it has not been announced publicly until now.

Moving forward, I will be leading the HRN senior management team and be supported by a very capable and experienced group of leaders; these are Lea Ann Gabbert, Vice President of the Wichita based HRN Compensation Division, Paul Hendrycks, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Michael Dougal, Director of HR Consulting and Nancy Norman, Manager of Client Services.

The contributions that Jerry, Jane and Clinton have made to the success of our organization are too numerous to summarize. In my 15 years with HRN I have shared in many of these successes. Jerry and Jane have been the driving force behind the growth and success of HRN. They are responsible for the development of our Performance Pro, HRSuite, and Job Descriptions Plus solutions. Jane’s employment law expertise combined with excellence in business management have been key contributors to HRN being recognized as one of the top HR consulting and solution firms in the United States. Jerry is a true people person and business leader. His energetic personality is infectious and his absolute mastery of a multitude of complex HR topics is seemingly limitless. Clinton, similarly has demonstrated great vision and leadership in the development and creation of the Compease, iPerformease and Incentease solutions. Clinton’s reputation as a performance and compensation consultant has benefited literally thousands of companies over the course of his remarkable career.

Moving forward HRN is poised for continuing growth and success with the upcoming release of Performance Pro version 3.0 and the concurrent development of new succession planning and employee development solutions scheduled for release in 2011.

In closing, and on behalf of our staff, associates, vendors, and clients, I would like to wish Jerry, Jane and Clinton the very best life has to offer and once again acknowledge and thank them for their vision, commitment, and dedication in building HRN to be a world-class HR solutions and consulting services company and an organization truly committed to providing excellence and value in employee performance and compensation administration solutions.

Sincerely,

Michele Lindsay
Executive Vice President
HRN Management Group

A new Oregon law, the Job Fairness Act (effective in July), will greatly restrict most state employers’ abilities to perform credit checks on applicants and employees.   Hawaii and Washington already significantly restrict such checks and many other states are considering such restrictions as well.

Also, the Oregon Supreme Court has decided that employers need not accommodate an employee’s use of medical marijuana, even though the state does permit such use.( Emerald Steel Fabricators, Inc. v. Bureau of Labor and Industries.)

Indiana’s Possession of Firearms and Ammunition in Locked Vehicles Law becomes effective on July 1, 2010.  It allows Indiana employees to store firearms and ammunition in locked trunks, the glove box of a locked vehicle, or otherwise out of plain sight in a locked vehicle.

The Iowa Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act was signed March 22, 2010, and will become effective July 1, 2010. It applies to organizations of 25 or more and requires notice of business closings and mass layoffs.

Careercast undertook a study to determine the best and worst jobs of 2010. To determine the rankings, 5 key factors were considered including physical demands, work environment, income, stress and hiring outlook.

What’s the top job according to their analysis?   Actuary.   The remaining top 10 jobs included:  software engineer, computer systems analyst, biologist, historian, mathematician, paralegal, statistician, accountant, and dental hygienist.

The worst job?  Roustabout (works on oil rigs).  The next worst were: lumberjack, oil worker, dairy farmer, welder, garbage collector, taxi driver, construction worker, meter reader and mail carrier.  The list can be found at:  http://www.careercast.com/jobs/