The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that employers provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities. But how much accommodation is enough? When does an accommodation become unreasonable? How reasonable is reasonable?

Reasonable Accommodations Defined

According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), reasonable accommodations are any effective changes or adjustments to a job or work environment that allow a qualified applicant or employee with a disability to perform the essential functions of the job.
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The 2013 ERC Salary & Wage Surveys report salary data for 9,000+ individual employees from 200+ participating organizations and hourly wage data for 7,500+ individuals from 150+ organizations respectively. This unique local market data is a key resource for employers in the local business community looking to attract and retain top talent in to their organizations in Northeast Ohio.

While pay rates from these annual surveys remained fairly stable overall, certain industries did see more positive patterns of growth than others. Industry specific growth was strong in IT, Science/Research & Development, Customer Service/Sales, Purchasing/Distribution, and Business & Administrative Support. Each of these areas saw their average median salary grow by 4% or more overall from 2012 to 2013.
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The outcome of a recent court case reminds employers that when determining the essential functions of the job, how frequently they are performed is just one factor that should be considered.

Case Overview

In the case Knutson v. Schwan Food Company, Knutson was a general manager for one of the organization's depots whose job description stated that a manager must meet federal Department of Transportation (DOT) requirements to be eligible to periodically drive a delivery truck.
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Congratulations to the 2013 Manny Award Winners! ERC is proud to have many members that were honored with this award, including:

• ABS Materials
• Checkpoint Surgical
• Cryothermic Systems
• Mesocoat
• Nordson Corporation
• Myers Industries Inc.
• Olympic Steel Inc.
• PartSource Inc.

The Manny Awards honor companies making Northeast Ohio stronger by developing new products, keeping workers safe and giving back to the community.

Are some of your employees suffering from burnout? Maybe even your best employees? Burnout is a talent issue because it is more often experienced by your top employees - those who are trying to contribute most to your organization. It can even affect your leaders. Top performers and leaders tend to be more susceptible to burnout based on their personalities, work habits, and strong desire to achieve.

Burnout occurs when employees experience physical, mental, or emotional exhaustion as a result of work. Employees who are burned out typically experience exhaustion and fatigue, emotional volatility, detachment and withdrawal, change in attitude, decreased interest and passion in their work, and difficulty performing their job effectively.
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Beginning today, May 7, 2013, employers must use the revised Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 Form (Rev. 03/08/13)N for all new-hires and reverifications. Previously accepted revisions (Rev.02/02/09)N and (Rev. 08/07/09)Y may not be used as of May 7, 2013. 

The I-9 Form is required to verify the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for employment in the United States and the new I-9 Form contains many improvements including new fields, reformatting, and clearer instructions. Though the actual USCIS requirement for retaining I-9 forms is to retain original forms for "three years after the date of hire, or one year after the date employment ends, whichever is later," employers must have a completed I-9 Form on file for every person in their organization and should keep these forms on file for an employee's entire length of employment and for a certain amount of time after their employees stop working at the organization as a best practice.
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Are you giving your best employees good reasons to stay at your organization? Retaining employees comes down to giving great employees a good reason to stay at your workplace over and over again, especially when they have another opportunity on the table.

Over the years, ERC has conducted a large amount of research on what makes great talent stay at their organizations and has found that retention typically boils down to four (4) key factors: relationship with the manager, challenging work/learning opportunities, a great work environment, and compensation/rewards. Based on these factors, we've developed a toolkit of checklists to help you retain great employees.
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