Effective July 1, 2020 are several employment law changes applicable to your business. One is an amendment to the Virginia Human Rights Act that added new legal protections for individuals on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.The new law, which applies to employers of five employees or more, stipulates posting and notice requirements your business must implement no later than October 29, 2020, including an adjustment to your employee handbook. Additionally, the law:
- Requires employers to make reasonable accommodation to the known limitations of a person related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the employer can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the employer.
- Requires employers, upon request of accommodation by an employee, to engage in a timely, good faith, interactive process with the employee to determine reasonableness of the requested accommodation and, if the accommodation is not reasonable, to discuss alternatives.
- Prevents employers from discriminating against an employee in response to a request for a reasonable accommodation.
For more, see the letter below from employment lawyer Todd Leeson of Gentry Locke. Todd also provides a document to assist with the posting mandate.