ADD a disability?
Lindsay1
9 Posts
I had an employee tell me, minutes after a very unflattering 90-day evaluation, “it’s not that I’m stupid, but I think I have ADHD.” I asked her what she meant, and she told me that her councilor thought she has ADHD. She hasn’t been to a doctor and isn’t taking any medication.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Here’s my thought process.
1. Does she have ADHD? Do I need to request that she provide me with ‘proof'? I can’t find anything under the ADA other that specifies this, just that we must accommodate a ‘known’ disability.
2. Is ADHD is covered under the ADA? An essential requirement of her job is to focus and concentrate; we can't create a reasonable accommodation for those duties. Having her do the ‘simple’ jobs would created an undue hardship for that department, as everyone’s jobs are dependent on each other.
Even if she provides proof of ADD/ADHD, we aren't required to accomidate that. If she can't do the job, we are ok to terminate based on performance issues. Any advice?
Comments
(1) In the interactive process of ADA, you can ask for documentation to make the decisions. That documentation does usually come in the form of doctor certifications.
(2) Here's one article I found: http://add.about.com/od/adhdinadults/a/jobrights.htm
Here is another that I found that dealt more with the rights of children with ADD/ADHD but does a good job explaining the situation: http://newideas.net/adhd/ada-americans-disability-act-adhd
(3) You need to think outside the box on accommodations and ask her what accommodations that she feels might work. You don't have to take her perspective, but it does show you were interactive instead of dismissing accommodations out of hand. For example, does she just need extra time to complete the task? How much? 10 minutes is reasonable for a long task...multiple hours might not be. Or possibly noise blocking ear plugs or music would help. There may be a much simpler solution than you think.
And then you have the new changes to the ADA to deal with -- those made it more favorable to the employee.... In any case, you would want to show the interactive process was completed rather than dismissed out of hand.
Personally, I would seek a legal opinion since it is such a gray area.
For the most part, ADA (as regulated) doesn't list diseases it covers and diseases it does not cover. It sets a threshold of effect on individuals' ability to perform major life functions and if they are afflicted with something that hits that threshold, they're covered.
Is asthma covered? Not for most people.