Knee impairment-ADA qualifying?

deniseE

I can't imagine that this qualifies as an ADA impairment...but I'll ask...

EE has knee problems and does mostly desk work....

She was terminated during her probabtionary period because she was missing excessive time...

she's now alleging discrimination under ADA.

Whatever

What is the alleged impairment (her point of view)? Did she ever ask for an accomodation?

Down_the_Middle

Too little information to determine ADA, so can't help there. Is there an impairment that substantially limits 1 or more major life activities???? If yes, then it might be an ADA issue and you'll be expected to consider reasonable accommodations.......... The individuals failure to satisfactorily complete your probationary period is presumably for performance reasons--likely attendance was part of that. There probably isn't much for you to do at this time. Employee's gone and is whispering ADA. Make sure your documentation that lead to the dismissal is clear and complete and wait for the whisper to grow to a speaking voice level.

deniseE

She's already filed her complaint.....so we're above a whisper.

Since she does desk work (no walking/lifting) there was not really an accmodation to be made to the physical requirements of the job. It seems that what she didn't do was report to work...which made training difficult and since she was in her probationary period, was released.

Whatever

Who did she file the complaint with? In her complaint, what did she state was the nature of her disability and how does she claim it excuses her excessive absences.

Down_the_Middle

I wouldn't loose too much sleep over her allegation. Despite the fact that no ADA request surfaced while she was employed, she'll have a difficult time arguing discrimination for what was not known or even regarded as having an impairment. Attendance is a fundamental requirement for achieving the essential functions of the job, so if her absenteeism was significant, she'll have to look elsewhere to allege some tye of discrimination. Good luck with the issue.

Don D

Good points. I agree. There's no ADA issue here. Let it roll out. Not under the oddest of circumstances can she show that a knee ailment limits a major life activity, unless she wants to get into the inability to kneel at mass.