ADA misadventures

allsteaks

We haven't had any issues so far with accommodations or other ADA issues, but I would be very interested in other workplaces' problems they have encountered, especially legal or union challenges to your process. Please post your challenge and how you handled it. This could be educational for all of us. Thanks, Jim M.

drehil

We had an employee who had a stroke. Not a work..thank goodness, although I'm sure that would have made this posting more exciting. We put her off on FMLA and when her 12 weeks were about to expire, we asked her what her next step would be. She said she would be returning to work with a full release from her doctor. Sounded good to us. Well when she returned to work, she had forgetten how to do half of her job. We didn't have a problem retraining her. Since 12 weeks off from work is a long time and things change as well. But about three weeks into her return, she still didn't remember anything. I asked her on a couple of different occasions how things were going and to make sure she didn't need anything. All was well with her and she didn't need anything. After a meeting with her supervisor she broke down and told her that she was not doing well and could not continue to work for us and there was nothing we could do for her. We got lucky that she quit because a couple of months later she had another stroke and brain surgery that resulted in her having lasting brain damage.

ACU Frank

We had an employee who was terminated for a no-call no-show, which was the sixth time she'd been off in just over a month. She claimed ADA - we responded that none of her six individual reasons for being off work qualified, and that she had not informed us of any other qualifying reasons. Her next move? A psychiatrist's certification that her hypochondria was ADA-qualified, since it limited many of her life functions by making her think she was too sick to do anything.

The EEOC sided with us, as did the state's Human Rights Commission, but I would not have been surprised if we would have become the subject of caselaw that future HR professionals would study in preparation for their SPHR!

HRQ

Isn't it interesting how few responses there are? I wonder why there's so little experience out there... (Myself included.)

- Do supervisors for the most part automatically try to work with employees with disabilities, they just don't "formally" enter the accommodation process?
- Do they inadvertently bypass the accommodation process by not hiring people with evident disabilities, consciously or subconsiously?
- Are too busy to respond?
- Is the "disabled" community really an enabled community, not interested in getting any more help than anyone else out there, even if they deserve it?
- The disabled community has, for the most part, learned to apply for positions for which they are likely qualified and able to perform, or they have access to lots of resources?

We offer an inclusion program for children with special needs, with staff specially trained in the accommodation process. It's just part of our culture, although admittedly, we do have to help some employees "see the light." On the employment side though, we have not had to discuss accommodations.

NeedCoffee

We just really haven't had any experience with disabled individuals. The closest we've come is accommodations when an employee is injured/sick. None of these have fallen under the ADA (knock on wood!).

I know for my company, the line of work we do can not readily accommodate serious disabilities. (we're a large automotive dealership) I believe that prevents people with disabilities from even applying.

allsteaks

I think Q's list includes most of the reasons we didn't get anymore input on this thread. Also most disabled individuals don't want to work where they aren't wanted and "the word on the street" tells them where they are welcome or shunned. It was an interesting exercise though.