Quote:
Originally Posted by Maestro
This is true, I had lots of training on this subject being a hiring manager and I was required to be aware of this and employers are required to make reasonable accommodation. However, this has to be made up front, meaning the individual has to have a conversation with the employer and explain what are the limitations and what is reasonably required to accommodate the specific disability. If the employer refuses then there is good case. If this conversation has not happen with the employer then it is going to be a much hard battle.
Just taking time off, using vacation and sick time they can not hold that against you, if you taking time off without pay, little more or grey area. Most companies have a requirement of how much time you are required to work. If you can not work those hours they have a right to terminate especial if you work in an at will employee state.
Not specific to this situation, I was in the process of terminating a person due to poor performance. Working my way down the documentation path, the individual knew what I was doing since we have conversation about action plans. The next day the person went to HR and told them he had a disability (never told me) which was affecting his work performance and I was told by HR to back off and stop the documentation process and we were required to see what could be to accommodate the person. In the end we did nothing since the person decide to quit as long as we did not challenge their unemployment claim.
The long and short, the company has to be formally notified of the disability, it has to be one recognized by the ADA, then accommodation have to be discussed and agreed upon, only after this if the employer does not live up to their responsibilities is there a case.
As other pointed out need to find an ADA lawyer general lawyers without this background can not help much.
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Good points and spot on.
To add to what you are saying, for the benefit of the OP, it's not enough for the employee to simply disclose that he/she has a medical condition. The employee must disclose AND request specific accommodations be made. As a rule it's best to make this disclosure and ask for accommodations before the condition has an impact on your work, but I've seen it happen the other way around. I attempted to terminate an employee for drinking on the job. When he walked into the conference room and HR was sitting there with a stack of papers he knew what was up. Before we could say anything he said "I'm an alcoholic and I want to go to treatment", knowing my company provided free treatment access. We were stuck. We had to make accommodations. He went through a month of treatment on our dime, made it another month on his own, and was back to drinking on the job. At that point we were able to terminate.
OP, my recommendation to you is to reach out to your HR department (and cc your boss) in writing. Tell them you have a disability and you need the company to make reasonable accommodations (use that exact phrase), up to and including accommodations for medical appointments, missed work, etc. I've seen shady HR departments say they never had a certain convo with an employee so do it in writing and cc at least one other person such as your dept. manager.
You may be able to work this all out without an employment attorney. Your HR and direct manager's response to your letter will tell you if you need to turn the heat up and talk to an attorney.