ADA and New Requirements

KP68 · November 2004

Employee (one with a 'history', nonetheless) is part of a department that has very recently undergone a revision by increasing its minimum daily production requirements for all employees (by eliminating some steps, this is not a major increase in responsibility as it has been streamlined to allow higher productivity).

Before the end of very first day that this was put into place, this employee told her supervisor that she will not be able to meet this goal because she has changed her depression medications.

So my questions are: do we take the reasonable accommodation route now, since we've been 'put on notice' of a possible medical condition, or should we just give it a few days to see if she actually can meet this goal and see where she sits in comparison w/the rest of the dept.?

Appreciate your thoughts on this...

marc · November 2004

Seems to me that if you begin treating her as disabled, you have limited the available courses of action. Is she currently being accomodated because of her meds? If not, there is a process to go through before you automatically begin to accomodate. I think she needs to give you an official notice. Perhaps this qualifies. If it does, then you need to start the interactive process, including providing a job description, including the new production quotas, to the medical service provider, to determine if she can meet the job requirements and what accomodations might be made. But I think you know all of this.

That said, I don't think it is reasonable to accomodate her by giving her a lesser production goal.

Don D · November 2004

I agree with Marc. In accordance with our lean initiatives, we recently removed stools from several of our production cell areas. The very next day I had one woman in my office who weighs, I estimate, 440 pounds telling me her knees are swelling due to a year old industrial injury. And another employee, a wormy little guy who smokes four packs a day says his back hurts and he comes to see me with a cane the next day. They both ask for accommodation. They want their stools back. They don't like the new lean initiative. The requirement now is that they stand and move about the cell in job rotation and reach for product that is now kanbanned beside their station. (Sorry for the lingo). Anyway, I deny both requests and put them on non-specific medical restricted layoff without pay, meaning they are given FMLA paperwork and sent to the house. I give them both job descriptions too, to take along with them to a physician if they decide to crawl out of bed and visit a clinic.

I refuse, at this early point, to consider them disabled or to consider reversing our corporate initiative to lean out the cells, including scrapping stools and unneeded materials and junk (5-S). Ain't no way I'm gonna accommodate either of them. We don't have sittin' down jobs, period. Maybe McDonald's does.

jimbomt · November 2004

So Don, if you put them on restricted medical leave do they get to use there vacation and sick time? is it then there responsibility to prove they are medically unfit for the position. What would be your expected/hoped for outcome?

KP68 · November 2004

So let me ask this: should we wait a week or so to see how she peforms or should I just get the job description to her doctor and see what he/she says? I have a feeling that if we wait to do this, she's just going milk it anyway and not even try to meet the minimum requirement....

Balloonman1 · November 2004

I would tell her to give it a few days and see how it goes, compare her output to the others. Also observe, make sure there is appropriate level of effort being expanded.
My $0.02 worth,
DJ THe Ballloonman

ADA and New Requirements

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