Daily Intermittent Leave?

nsauchuk

We have an hourly EE who has MS. A few months after she was hired, (3 years ago) she started to come in late every day. Sometimes it was one to a few minutes late, then it escalated and the few minutes turned into 10-15 minutes. When we called her on it, she told us she had MS and that mornings are very difficult for her.
I gave her the FMLA paperwork to consider the possibility of allowing intermittent leave. It took her a while to have her doctor complete it. When she finally brought the paperwork back I still could not see, how her tardies tied into the chronic ailment. I called her in to talk to her about it because I honestly did not understand MS. Our meeting was followed by a "hositle" letter from her physician stating that MS is a very complicated disease and depression is a very big part of it. The doctor felt we were putting undue pressure on our EE and we would not want to be held responsible if the EE were to commit suicide. (Yes, it was ugly!)

We decided we would give her a later start time to "accomodate" her. We met with her and offered her an 8:30 AM start time but she did not want to have a "scheduled" later start time. There are days "she may need to leave early" or feels good enough to start early. Again, we accomodated, and the EE was schduled to start anytime between 8:00 AM and 8:30 AM. (Talk about a record keeping nightmare!) The EE has not kept up her part of the bargain. She has been coming in closer to 9:00 AM on most days. Also, on several occasions she has been off for extended periods of 2 weeks or so due to medication she must take for her condition.

Bottom line, I would like to go back and give her an 8:30 AM start time (to accomodate) and if she is not able to come in on time, start a disciplinary process. My approach would be that "we have a business to run," and while we would prefer she is here at 8:00 AM (most EEs start at 7:00 AM), we'll work with the 8:30 AM start.

Are there any other issues I may need to look out for?

Thanks!

Don D

I must admit that I don't know enough about MS to know it's correlation with an inability to 'get going' in the morning. I do, however, think it was irresponsible of this physician to write a letter stating what he did, especially his off the wall comment about suicide. I am sure there is no natural connection with MS and suicide; no more than there is with any other condition, other than depression, or suicide independant of other medical conditions.

I think what I might do, if I were you, would be to have a conversation with a medical doctor who I knew and trusted, one who could educate me and give me a level of comfort as to the realities of what I might expect of an employee with MS. A secretary I had years ago, when there were such animals, told me, "I have MS. Ordinarily you'll never know that. I may trip over a garbage can or bump into a desk on occasion, but I intend to be here every day and work as hard as anybody else in this office." We never mentioned it again. I do know that the disease affects people differently and it's progression cannot be anticipated or pigeon-holed with perfect clarity.

Don't jump on the discipline train until you have had the conversation I recommended. The employee has a serious medical condition and it would not be appropriate by any stretch to kick in discipline when you don't understand the factors you're dealing with.

nsauchuk

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 04-08-04 AT 07:27AM (CST)[/font][br][br]Don, Thanks for your advice. I'll hold off until I get more info.

System

I feel for you, nsauchuk. I don't think there's a tougher FMLA problem than a chronic condition that flares up unpredictably. I'm not a lawyer, but I think you'd be stomping on thin ice to start discipline without talking to a lawyer first. Here are some if you don't have one:
[url]http://www.hrhero.com/necn/bios/ilemp.shtml[/url]

You might want to learn more about MS. This looks like a good site:
[url]http://www.nmss.org/[/url]
I'd suggest telling the employee you'll give her whatever the FMLA entitles her to, but you need her help to understand what that is. I'd send the doc her recent attendance history and ask if it looks right, and if that's generally what you might expect.

Good luck.

James Sokolowski
HRhero.com

nsauchuk

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 04-08-04 AT 07:28AM (CST)[/font][br][br]James, Thank you too, for your advice and the websites information you provided. I believe I'll do a little more homework and make sure I know what the EE's & the Company's rights are before I proceed with any disciplinary action. I'll let you know what the outcome is just as an FYI.

Thanks again.

AnneLa

Perhaps you could contact your occupational health Doctor (if you have one). Get the employee to authorize your doc to talk to her doc. Be sure to provide a job description and the details of the accommodation you're wiling to make to both docs. In that way, you are following the medical advise of both docs. Then there would be no excuse when her 9:00 start time turns into a 9:30 or 10:00.

nsauchuk

Thanks, I didn't think of getting our OC HLTH doctor involved. Would his input have any bearing on what her doctor thinks?

We will talk to the EE this week and have her chose the start time she is comfortable with. (Of couse, the start times we offer are start times we can live with.) We believe she will chose the 8:30 AM start time. If she's tardy 3 times after the new schedule is approved, we will move her up to the 9:00 AM start. If she's tardy 3 more times after she's moved up to the 9:00 AM start time, the disciplinary process begins. This at least, is a trail to prove we've really tried to accommodate her.

Thanks again.

Carey

You probably also have an ADA issue with MS. The Job Accommodation Network is a good source and they have information regarding MS on their website with possible issues and accommodations. You can also call and talk to one of their consultants. Here is a link to their section on MS [url]http://www.jan.wvu.edu/soar/MS.html[/url]
Good luck.