sales person w/back injury (DRIVING)

hr traci

We have a national sales person who claims to have a back injury that makes it difficult for him to drive. He also lives on the other side of the state from where the main facility is, working from home & traveling to clients. He is telling us now that his 20-something son is driving him to clients that are hours away, mostly so ee can be on pain med during the ride. It is not a company car, (we do give monthly auto allowance though)but I still have a lot of concerns about this situation. WE have told the ee that we will pay for a physical capacity test to determine his limitations and whether he should be placed on disability, and the ee is dragging his feet. If he claims he can't drive to clients/sales calls, and this is a main function of his job, can we force him to go on disability? I'll appreciate any feedback!

Hatchetman

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 08-21-03 AT 09:46AM (CST)[/font][p]Think about what is actually the essential function or duty here?

Is it to drive a car or to make the sales, including at customers' homes?

Driving is just one way to get to the sales. As long as the production demands are still met (assuming the liability issue is not a problem), then what's the problem with the son driving?

I can't say that the employee is ADA disabled because you don't have enough information about his medical condition. Further, I don't believe that drving a car is considered a major life actviity. But if the employee were ADA disabled, then a possible reasonable accommodation could be having his son drive to the various customers' homes.

I would, however, check with legal counsel about the company's liability issue in the employee's son driving. But I think you could see the son as a personal assistant to the employee and not an adjunct to the company.

hr traci

Thanks for your input. Our job description for national accounts executive does include "face to face" contact with clients and sales contacts (potential clients). It is a B2B situation, not homes. So, we are considering driving as an essential part of this job. We don't believe a sales person can be selling to business clients (or building that client relationship) by only over the phone, fax, email. And most of his clients are in other Metropolitan areas, i.e. going from West Michigan to Chicago, Kentucky, Ohio, etc.