ALCOHOLISM REHAB SUBSEQUENT MED CONDITION
Eve
3 Posts
An employee who is an alcoholic based on previous rehab and falling off the wagon history in the past seven years has once again gone into first outpatient rehab and then inpatient rehab, was released from rehab, came to work one day. She was unable to perform the basic functions of the job. was sent home to return the next morning, since she blamed it on the meds she was on and begged for one more day. At that point the action was going to be dismissal for lack of performance, but then this patient's family called to state that she was admitted to the hospital for her disoriented behaviour and it turned out she had a brain anuerisym that needed treatment. What followed was hopitalization, release, further treatment at another hospital. And I received one call from the employee to state her condition two weeks ago. I called a family member to followup and she stated that treatment options were being pursued. She has been gone since 6/5/06, came in the one day to "work " and hasn't been here since. The hesitation and confusion here is based on the ADA directives for the recurrence of the alcoholism, her voluntary rehab, then the medical condition that followed or occurred in the midst of this and is this FMLA and when should the FMLA count have begun? Help!
Comments
1. ADA protects practicing alcoholics, but poor performance and excessive absenteeism are not protected. You can maintain these expectations as you would the rest of your employees. I'll assume that these incidents have all been documented and accompanied by the appropriate warnings.
2. The serious medical issue appears to have started on 6/5/2006. Get medical certification as soon as you can and get her on FMLA as of 6/5/2006 and make sure the medical certification supports that date as well.
The medical condition didn't occur until 6/28 and she had come to work the day before (hadn't worked since 6/3)and was unable to perform the most basic function of the basic reception job. Her job was originally an office manager which was not a position she could perform anymore either. The decision was made to demote her with her agreement so she would have a job to come back to. So then she's hospitalized the next day by her family for substance abuse/detox and in the course of the hospitalization its found she has an aneurysm. I am informed by voicemail by the employee the day of her release and when I was unable to contact her, I called a family member who informed me that she had an aneurysm was released and would be seeking further treatment. That was two weeks ago today. So I have no info other than that and would FMLA start the day I received this voicemail and confirmation from the family member? I have no certification,she may still be in outpatient rehab for the alcohol abuse and I was told by my boss not to call her. She is still an employee here, was not termed , is still covered by the group insurance through the end of July, has exhausted all her paid vacation and sick time for the year ,was paid for the day worked,did not have enough in her last check to cover her portion of the August insurance, but we are still paying for her. I personally don't feel we have to support this employee but this sudden medical condition throws a real curveball here.
First of all, the ADA does cover alcoholics even while they're drinking as opposed to drug users who lose their protection when they start using again. Go figure. But again, you have a right to expect good performance and good attendance.
The aneurysm that you describe is the medical condition that I was talking about. Press for certification on this front and give her no more than 15 days to produce it. I'm betting that you won't get it because I don't buy her story. Practicing alcoholics are expert liars.
Keep us posted, Eve, and let me know if I'm wrong about her. Believe it or not, I HAVE been wrong before.
As for the medical issue, you should have sent FMLA paperwork to her back when you first found out about the condition and given her the 15 calendar days to get the completed paperwork back to you. If you haven't done so, get that paperwork out. Finally, this EE does not have carte blance to come and go as they please so she would still be required to call in in accordance with your policy. I would recommend sending a 2nd letter, via certificate of mailing, informing the EE that their failure to contact you regarding their absences by XX date will result in the termination of her employment.
I was disagreeing with your statement that the ADA covers, "practicing alcoholics". It does not.
That said, the employer can still demand good attendance and good performance the same as with other employees.
Another way to look at the difference may be to look at alcoholism as a dependence on a legal substance, whereas illicit drug use by definition depends on using illegal substances. No one wants employers in effect to have to promote or encourage illegal behavior to comply with the ADA.
Don't forget you can download any of the Special Reports for a quick review of a troublesome area. There is one on [i]ADA from A to Z[/i] which might help here. Go to [url]http://www.hrhero.com/lc/spreports/main.shtml[/url] and click on the link to that report.
Jennifer Alvey
Group Publisher, In-house and Workers' Comp