ADA & FMLA

GLC

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 11-15-01 AT 02:23PM (CST)[/font][p] We have an employee who is on workers' compensation and FMLA concurrently. Her FMLA ends on 12/7/01. She submitted today something from her doctor stating that she is to have surgery on 12/6/01 and will need to be off work for 3-4 months after surgery. Her surgery is related to workers' compensation. She has a damaged rotator cuff. We were moving into a new building 2 months ago, and she tripped over her own feet and hit her head on a filing cabinet. She did extensive damage to her right shoulder and arm. She is a data entry operator, and we are concerned that even after the surgery, she may not be able to do her job because of the damage to the arm and shoulder. Can we terminate her after her FMLA ends considering the obligations under ADA? If we cannot terminate her, what are our obligations under ADA? We have no light duty jobs either. This is in Kentucky.

Gar

Is the surgery (FMLA leave) related to the Workers' Comp injury?

Hatchetman

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 11-14-01 AT 03:57PM (CST)[/font][p]Your obligation under ADA, given that the employee is identifying some type of medical impairment that requires surgery, is to evaluate whether or not she is disabled under ADA and entitled to reasonable accommodation. Without knowing more about the cause for the surgery, it's hard to say whether the employee COULD qualify as disabled under ADA and be entitled to reasonable accommodation that COULD include further leave. But right now, absent any mroe information, you can not automatically disqualfy her as not being disabled under ADA provisions. Leave of absence beyond FMLA could be a reasonable accommodation under ADA if it will permit the ADA-qualified employee to return to essential functions with or without further reaonable accommodation.