Rookie Question

Jessica

I've never had to address an ADA condition before and I may not have to do that here either but I have a few preliminary questions. I believe it is important to note that we have fewer than 20 employees, so we are not subject to FMLA.

I have had a supervisor report to me that a new employee has talked informally about having "chronic migraines" for which she is taking large doses of strong medications (the words large and strong are from the supervisor's description). The employee has also indicated that she is not getting very much sleep at night. During my conversations with the employee she has explained that the nights she doesn't sleep well are due to a recent break-up with a boyfriend of three years. The supervisor asked "What are we going to do about this?"

I stopped the supervisor in her tracks and asked "Is there any problem with her work performance?" The supervisor indicated that her performance is fine other than being a little short (tone of voice) with our customers and making a few negative comments. The supervisor has addressed this problem with a firm verbal warning. The employee was responsive and the supervisor will be watching that situation carefully. We are documenting their conversation in the employee's file.

My questions are:

Given the casual nature of the new employees disclosure, what sort of action should I be taking?

Should I take this information as notification of a disability, or does the employee need to do something more formal? Is it my job to ask for more formal notification?

I am concerned about her tone of voice and negative comments with our customers. If we find we cannot coach her through this problem (which is absolutely not acceptable) and need to terminate employment down the line do the answers to my questions about change?

Thank you for any assistance. I'm learning from the ground up on this one.

Gillian

There is a thread in the Employment Law section about migraines, so you might want to look at that. There doesn't seem to be an ADA issue at this point because the supervisor is telling you that the employee is doing the work, although there are a few customer relations problems. This seems to be primarily a performance issue so you should deal with that. In order not to be caught of guard at a later point, though, you should find out the seriousness of the medical issue so that you can evaluate whether or not it has anything to do with the performance. If the person gets terminated at some point, you don't want to be in the position of being accused of ignoring the "notice" that the company was given. If you determine that there is no connection with performance, document what the person said and deal with the performance issues. If there seems to be a connection, ask for a doctors note and get some medical advice. This really isn't a "rookie " question. These maybe yes, maybe no, situations are usually the most difficult to deal with. by the way, FMLA applies if you have 50 employees, not 20. If you have less than 15, ADA doesn't apply, although in that case you might want to check your state laws.

Renie

Jessica,
How did this case turn out? Did the employee's attitude improve with coaching or is the situation the same?

Would like an update if you don't mind xpray , please.

Jessica

Hi Renie,

I would be happy to provide an update!

The supervisor is working with her, probably as I type, and the headaches seem to be the least of our worries. We will definitely have some work to do in keeping this employee but we hired her for good reasons. I want to see us invested in carefully documenting any problems, but focusing on having this work out as a successful working relationship. My sense at the moment is that part of what the supervisor needed was some encouragement to commit to the coaching to find out where we are headed and whether or not this individual is really intersted in working with us and our customers.

Since she has not raised the issue of her headaches in any of the conversations they've had so far, we are trying to keep our eyes, ears, and minds open as we move forward.

As always I have certainly appreciated the rapid response from those of you with more experience in these areas than I have. If we have any movement in either direction here I'll try to remember to jump out and let everyone know.

Jessica

Renie

Glad to hear things are working out for the better. The wonderful part about HR work is that sometimes you don't know how to handle a situation until it happens. We are all learning as we go... that is why this forum is home to so many of us!!