Ryan Colleen Daugherty is an associate and member of the firm's Litigation group. She focuses on employment and other commercial litigation, as well as estate administration and planning matters. She joined the firm in 2008 after graduating from the University of Kentucky College of Law and the University of Georgia College of Environmental Design. In addition to her law practice, she is a LEED AP BD+C, and a member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Green Building Council's Kentucky Chapter, serving as its Legislative Task Force Chair. She is also a LFUCG Greenspace Commissioner and volunteers on various civic organizations such as Bluegrass Tomorrow, Race for Education and Girls on the Run. She recently was selected in 2010 as a Lexington Young Professionals Association Rising Star, and as one of five Emerging Leaders chosen to attend the 2010 Louisville and Lexington Chamber's joint Leadership Expedition.  

Employment Law

- Plan Documents Rule Ineffective to Protect ERISA Administrators Against Claims by Adverse Spouses 

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- Unpaid Interns - Too Good to be True? 

Spring is here, and along with the change in season comes a flurry of graduation announcements, parties, and for employers, an upsurge of applications and resumes from recent high school and college graduates. Recent graduates and interns provide a wealth of talent for many employers, and often become a core part of their operations and strategy. However, there are a few employment law considerations that must be understood by a company's HR representative, and really, everyone involved in the hiring process, when advertising, hiring and determining wages for Spring hires.    

Advertising for Talent - High School Diploma Requirements, Potential Violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act?  

Recently, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") issued an Informal Discussion Letter ("EEOC Letter")[1] which opined that employers who require high school diplomas as a minimum standard for job applicants, and who often advertise as such, could be in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, because they are screening out individuals who are unable to graduate because of a learning disability. Though Informal Discussion Letters give guidance regarding a particular inquiry and are not binding precedent, this letter serves as a wake-up call for employers of skilled and unskilled workers alike, who have long considered a high school diploma requirement to be a minimal, achievable and useful standard to ensure that its workforce possesses basic reading, writing and math skills.

According to the recent EEOC Letter, an employer may still apply the high school diploma requirement (and presumably other degree or certification requirements) if it can demonstrate that the requirement is "job related and consistent with business necessity," which essentially requires a showing that the functions of the particular job position cannot easily be performed by someone who does not have a high school diploma. For example, for a legal secretary, who must possess significant reading, writing, word processing, and math skills to perform his or her job, a high school diploma requirement may be deemed "job related and consistent with business necessity," but the same may not be true for a grocery bagger, hair stylist or delivery driver, who may not utilize the same skills taught in high school as a part of his or her job functions.   

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