Disabeled or no?

njjel

We have an employee who is morbidly obese and walks with a walker due to a recent injury off the job. She is perceived by everyone at work as "disabeled" however she has never asked for an accommodation. (However, we always make sure she can be accommodated at meetings, etc.) I believe if one is perceived as disabeled, then then are. Is there anything we need to do as pertains to regulations for ADA compliance?

Theresa Gegen TX

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 02-14-02 AT 10:23AM (CST)[/font][p]Being perceived as disabled means that the employer believes that the employee is substantially limited in major life activities. A disability is much more than a medical condition, and lots of people might think that someone is "disabled", but that doesn't mean they are disabled under the ADA definitions. Co-employees may believe that this employee is disabled, but the managers and supervisors should be cautioned against labeling the employee as "disabled."

As far as accomodation, if the employee can do the essential functions of her job without an accomodation, everything is ok. If the employee is having difficulty doing her job and blames that difficulty on her medical condition, then I would worry about accomodation.

It seems to me like the company is doing the right thing as far as making sure that she is comfortable at meetings, etc. However, the managers and supervisors probably need some training about the ADA if they are just assuming that she is disabled.

If the company percieves an employee as disabled, then the employee is protected from discrimination under the ADA. However, just because an employer perceives the employee as disabled doesn't make them disabled. For example, if a company wrongfully perceived an employee as disabled and fired the employee because of that perception, the employee would be protected by the ADA. However, if a company wrongfully perceived an employee as disabled, but refused to give that employee an accomondation, and the employee was not in fact disabled, the company would not be liable for the refusal to give the accomodation (merely perceiving the employee as disabled does not make them disabled and entitled to an accomodation, but it does give them protection against discrimination).

Good Luck!

Gar

It seems to me that if the employee hasn't asked for an accommodation and she's able to perform the job's essential functions, you should leave well enough alone. Further, as Theresa suggests, if the "everybody" you refer to includes your management staff, get them ADA trained ASAP. I've had to overcome a few problems simply because someone was percieved as disabled and they really weren't.