Is High Blood Pressure ADA?
HCA
72 Posts
Driving is a primary duty (it's a road dept); Employee must has a commercial d/l. Employee has high blood pressure and Dr. won't let him drive. We pulled him from driving and have let him work around the shop for the past two weeks (waiting for the blood pressure to drop.) He tests next week again. But we are running out shop duties and need a driver. Is the ADA something I need to be concerned about with this, or can we terminate because he can't fulfill a primary duty of the job?
Comments
My advice on this one is that you let him ride it out with shop duties until his followup exam next week. You already decided to 'accommodate' his illness and work restriction. You'd be hard pressed to explain why you can't continue it for a short while.
I do not think there is a snowball's chance that his high blood pressure will rise to the level (no pun intended) of ADA, thus requiring you to consider accommodation. In order to do that, the problem would have to restrict a major life activity, of which driving a truck is not one. And if he comes along after the followup test and says his doctor says he can no longer drive a truck, tell him where the UI claims office is. Truck driver is the job you have available. If he cannot do it, you have no obligation to him.
Pretty serious for the individual and the company!
PORK
The Supreme Court addressed a situation that is virtually identical to the facts in your situation in Murphy v. United Parcel Service , Inc. U.S. 516 (1999). In the Murphy case, UPS hired an individual as a mechanic to work on commercial vehicles. The position required the employee to hold a CDL. The employee’s hypertension barred him from holding a CDL and because of that he was terminated. The employee’s physician testified that he could function “normally” when he was using his medication. The Supreme Court subsequently ruled that the employee was not disabled within the meaning of the ADA and the employer (UPS) prevailed.
Geno