Pregnancy Issue
Shara
14 Posts
Ok, experts! I have a dilemma.
We have a pregnant employee who works in our psychiatric treatment center as a nursing assistant. When she found out she was pregnant, she asked her supervisor that she be removed from the responsibility of taking patients outside to smoke. I advised her supervisor to have another staff member take patients outside. She also brought us a restriction of no lifting greater than 15 pounds. As a nursing assistant, one of her main responsibilities is to help move patients (lots of geriatric patients that require total care) and to help them to and from the bathroom. We met with her, and explained we would likely not be able to accomodate her restriction, as we do not accomodate light duty other than worker's comp, and since as far as I know her pregnancy is a normal one, I can't see any reason she would fall under the ADA. We offered her to opportunity to apply for an open position in our medical records department where there would be no lifting, and she met the minimum requirements for that position. We also explained her FMLA rights to her. She said no, she didn't want to transfer, and she didn't want to take time off (she isn't due for several months). The next day, she brought in a note from her physician that stated no lifting restrictions. This occurred about a month ago. This week, she told her supervisor that she cannot lift patients, that she is covered under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and that she had contacted the DOL and they told her that we must accomodate her restrictions.
We do not make a practice of accomodating any sort of light duty at all unless it's worker's comp. However, has it happened without my knowledge? Probably so, but not in this type of situation - several months of no lifting in a position that requires quite a bit of that. My concern is, am I going to get in hot water if we refuse to accomodate? I found a case from 2000 in the 10th court of appeals where they ruled in favor of employees in this particular circumstance. What are your recommendations?
We have a pregnant employee who works in our psychiatric treatment center as a nursing assistant. When she found out she was pregnant, she asked her supervisor that she be removed from the responsibility of taking patients outside to smoke. I advised her supervisor to have another staff member take patients outside. She also brought us a restriction of no lifting greater than 15 pounds. As a nursing assistant, one of her main responsibilities is to help move patients (lots of geriatric patients that require total care) and to help them to and from the bathroom. We met with her, and explained we would likely not be able to accomodate her restriction, as we do not accomodate light duty other than worker's comp, and since as far as I know her pregnancy is a normal one, I can't see any reason she would fall under the ADA. We offered her to opportunity to apply for an open position in our medical records department where there would be no lifting, and she met the minimum requirements for that position. We also explained her FMLA rights to her. She said no, she didn't want to transfer, and she didn't want to take time off (she isn't due for several months). The next day, she brought in a note from her physician that stated no lifting restrictions. This occurred about a month ago. This week, she told her supervisor that she cannot lift patients, that she is covered under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and that she had contacted the DOL and they told her that we must accomodate her restrictions.
We do not make a practice of accomodating any sort of light duty at all unless it's worker's comp. However, has it happened without my knowledge? Probably so, but not in this type of situation - several months of no lifting in a position that requires quite a bit of that. My concern is, am I going to get in hot water if we refuse to accomodate? I found a case from 2000 in the 10th court of appeals where they ruled in favor of employees in this particular circumstance. What are your recommendations?
Comments
Me recommendation would be to go through this with your labor law attorney but my gut reaction, based on what you are posting above, is that you do NOT have to make accomodations for her lifting restrictions. As an employer, even if she did qualify for ADA, you only are required to make "reasonable" accomodations - not necessarily the one she wants.
Why does she not want to transfer to another position?
My employer is in a similar business and developed a less physical position several years ago that can be accomplished by someone on restricted duty status. We reserve those job tasks for employees with work restrictions as a result of w/c issues or pregnancy. An inherent benefit to us has been the positive PR generated the opportunity, especially in light of the number of pregnancies being encountered in the work place these days.
best wishes