ADA confidentiality breech?
Elizabeth111222
2 Posts
An employee requested Medical leave for treatment for a psychological condition. In processesing her paperwork it became known that she is on medication that may alter her abilty to function as a nurse. Is this information protected under the ADA from reporting her liscense to the state while she is off recieving treatment? Can an employer use the information obtained through medical cetification against them?
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An employee requested Medical leave for treatment for a psychological condition. In processesing her paperwork it became known that she is on medication that may alter her abilty to function as a nurse. Is this information protected under the ADA from reporting her liscense to the state while she is off recieving treatment? Can an employer use the information obtained through medical cetification against them?
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I'll spend more time on this later but, at first blush, part of it smells of a rock-and-a-hard-place scenario but part of it is easily addressed under ADA.
If you have reason to believe that the medicine necessarily alters her ability to do her job, you can get a fitness cert and the inquiry is allowed because of the imminent harm to the safety of herself and/or others that is at stake.
On the other hand, if you cannot disclose the issue to licensing authorities and she leaves your employ and goes to another job in the same profession, there could be considerable civil liability for failure to disclose (the very thing you cannot do).