Medical

Sigmaplastics

I have an employee that has a visiable disability, (Parkinson) he is a machinest. We received a letter from his physician that gave him the clearance to work. Management now wants to let him go. I said that he should go to company's physician to get clearance. We want to lay him off, when that runs out then go on STD, until his social security disability comes through,the employee is 62 years old. What do you suggest?

I am new at this Human Resource. Please help.

LivindonSouth

You cannot lay a person off due to his having a disability. Nor would it be wise to affect his employment in any way at all due to the medical condition. I recommend you send him to the physician of your choice and request a 'fitness for duty' report from that physician. The company has to pay for this. Be sure that the physician has a full and complete written copy of the machinist job description.

If he comes back to you cleared for return to full duty, he's good to go.

You are also entering an area of thin ice with the mention of his age and your assumption that he will seek and can qualify for SS disability. Those are assumptions you should run from and not revisit.

Since you are new to HR, you certainly do not want your initiation to include a bumbled episode of terminating a disabled older worker. You may want also to consult with a labor lawyer for advice.

Open1

I agree with Don. "Lay him off" implies there is a shortage of work and he'll be recalled back to work as soon as the pace picks up.

The issue should be whether or not he can do the job, with or without accommodations. I know it's tough to get this across to upper management sometimes. Good luck!

HRLASS

To take Don's reply just a bit further...
Qualifying for SS disability can take considerable proof and if he has any doctors who say he is fit to work, he probably won't qualify. However, you will qualify for additional problems. In additional to age discrimination (for even considering the factor), you will have "regarded him as disabled" under the ADA and he will have additional grounds to sue you.

marc

You can't go too far wrong listening to the livindonsouth.

I would ask if there are performance issues with respect to his work? If this is the reason management wants to take action with this EE, then you have a different kettle of fish, but to go after a disabled, elderly EE could be a costly mistake. Taking this path could require the company to get out the checkbook and start entering the zeros ahead of the decimal point - and that would just be for the lawyers. The EE would take a larger check.

njjel

Unless it is your standard company policy to obtain second medical opinions, I would be careful in doing so. And no, you can't just lay him off due to his illness.

Gillian3

If you haven't already, read the post from Lorrie and responses. The issues are similar.

TN HR

You may also want to suggest to your employer that they hire an HR Manager-level individual to assist you.