ADA-GULF WAR SYNDROME
lmccoy
19 Posts
I think an employee is attempting to put us on notice of a possible ADA qualifying illness. This employee has been disciplined on six occassions in the past three months for careless mistakes resulting in large losses to the company. The next incident will result in termination. During his last disciplinary meeting (last night), he stated he was worried that he or his children may have GWS and he can't always keep his mind on his work or remember what he is doing. I have learned that some symptoms of GWS is memory loss and another is anger management (both of which he has difficulty with). I don't want to ask if he needs an accommodation for something that may not be covered, nor do I want to "treat him as disabled", I don't know what, if anything, I should do. This is an employee who knows just enough about the laws to be dangerous. We have had several other problems with him in the past. I am not very familiar with ADA so any help you could give would be appreciated.
Comments
Regarding your specific issue, if the employee has NOW raised a possibility of some psychological condition that is causing the problems at work, he is indicating a request for reasonable accommodaiton. He may or may not be disabled under ADA and he may or may not be entitled to reasonable accommodation.
You determine all of this through what is called the "interactive process." ADA requires an employer to reasonably accommodate the qualified disability in order to allow the employee to perform the essential duties of the job or meet the essential conditions of the job.
A disability is a permanent or long term medical condition (physical or mental) that significantly impairs one or more major life activities. Whether GWS is such in his case or whether he has any medical condition that falls under ADA is what the interactive process determines. Going through the process does NOT mean that you are regarding or treating the employee as disabled. That's what the process helps you determine.
[By the way, "regarding or "treating" the emplyee is disabled for the most part taking actions against the employee on the PERCEPTION that the employee is disabled (such as being mentally ill) without having documented it factually.]
You are not required to dismiss the actions you've already taken regarding his performance. But now that he has raised the issue, you need to determine whather or not he is disabled under ADA and whether or not reasonable accommodation will correct the problem. You need to do this before moving on to the discharge step.
Read the EEOC material I referenced, especially the one regarding reasonable accommodation. I think you'll get a much better picture of what you need to be doing or should be doing, or doing need to be doing after reviewing it.