Disability

Job rotation can enrich work, as well as reduce stress and repeat injuries, but it comes with risks for employers.

Flexible-work arrangements for disabled workers offer employers plenty of benefits, including ways to update and improve their disability-management and return-to-work programs.

With more people living and working longer, and medical treatments becoming ever more effective, an increasing number of cancer patients are returning to work after taking long-term-disability leaves for treatment.

This is in response to Are There Limits to ADA Leave Requests?

This list of resources related to recruiting and retaining military veterans accompanies Beyond Yellow Ribbons.

To a large degree, veterans' workplace issues are disability workplace issues. Although HR leaders recognize the potential talents and contributions of veterans, including veterans with disability, they have struggled to translate this good will into solid HR practices. The article offers 10 tips for HR leaders to assess whether their organizations are prepared to ensure that qualified veterans can fully contribute their talents in the workplace.

The EEOC and employers faced off on how expansive organizations must be in providing leave to disabled workers during a hearing earlier this month. The EEOC says companies must be flexible in going beyond their attendance policies, but employers wonder how much leave is enough in the EEOC's eyes.

The amended Americans with Disabilities Act will most likely lead to more discrimination claims. In addition to making sure organizations engage disabled workers in conversations about their need for accommodations, experts say, HR should create -- and communicate -- strong absence- and disability-management programs.

Senior Vice President, National Absence Management Practice Leader
Aon Hewitt, Atlanta

A Force to be Reckoned With

When a consultant has talent and sensitivity to the importance of customer service, and has the resources of a massive organization behind her, she can be pretty tough to beat.

A lawsuit filed against a turkey processor is being seen by experts as a disturbing reminder that employers can't be too careful when it comes to protecting their employees with intellectual and cognitive disabilities.

Partner
Spring Consulting Group, Boston

Perfect Timing

The recently amended Americans with Disabilities Act will vastly increase the number of employees who are considered to have disabilities.

Senior Consultant
The Benecon Group Inc., Lititz, Pa.

Adding Some Depth to the Pool

The Lancaster County, Pa.-based Benecon Group had already made a name for itself in the world of employee benefits, having created, in 1991, the first municipal cooperative in Pennsylvania that was formed for the purpose of purchasing health-insurance benefits.

Senior Vice President, National Life and Disability Practice Leader
Aon Hewitt, Tampa, Fla.

A Technical Bulwark

And then there's the numbers guy.

People with mental disabilities (including intellectual disabilities, serious mental illnesses and developmental disabilities, such as autism) have an employment rate that is only half as high as people with other forms of disabilities, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Vice President-Employee Benefits
HUB International Northeast, Hauppauge, N.Y.

In an Owner's Shoes

How does Susan Sajiun-Fitzharris do such a good job of meeting employers' and employees' needs and expectations in creating effective and cost-efficient voluntary benefits programs?

One answer is that she has owned her own company.

This article accompanies Facing the Future: Announcing The 2011 Top Employee Benefits Consultant winners.

Senior Vice President, National Life and Disability Practice Leader
Aon Hewitt, Tampa, Fla.

A Technical Bulwark

And then there's the numbers guy.