perceived retalliation

lwl

I am a new subscriber from a public agency and would like to test the waters with a question. Our administrative manager left the first week of February for six weeks for medical reasons. He has Parkinsons Disease and his medical excuse listed his leave time as stress-related. He will possibly be returning in mid-March after he receives a medical re-evaluation. The problem is that while he was out, we found a few things that he had not been doing, or had not been doing satisfactorily and these things needs to be rectified. The director is not sure how far she can push him to fix these problems, if he returns, out of concern that he will cry retalliation and use his medical condition as an excuse. (His relationship with the director has been a tenuous one and his departure in February was rather heated.) We know that a disability is not an excuse for not performing one's duties if the disability is not a contributing factor. We would like some feedback from someone that could help shed some light on an appropriate plan of action if and when this manager returns. (It is our belief that he will seek disability.)

Thanks!
lwl

TN HR

This seems simple enough to me when you dissect it, sift the irrelevant stuff from it and then lay the stuff with substance on the table.

When he returns to work, lay-out his performance expectations and then hold him accountable to them. Also hold him accountable for failing to perform his job in the first place.

Handle this as a performance issue and keep the medical mumbo jumbo out of it. As long as you keep the two separate you will be fine.

Gene

Don D

But, you should discipline him, if appropriate, for the earlier acts of malfeasance or misfeasance. Don't let him think the clock starts now, upon his return to work, as some sort of clean slate. What you found in his absence has no association with his ailments (or so you must assume). Lay it out, as Gene said, discipline him for it if that is your policy, and move forward without regard to his illness or lack thereof.

If you get into the business of 'feeling' you must tread lightly because he is ill or might be ill, you have gotten off onto the wrong path.