ADA
JudyBeach
11 Posts
We are preparing to terminate an employee due to poor job performance. He has been written up and warned twice about his poor performance. He has made a statement in the past that he has been depressed and is going to see a doctor about it. We feel that he will object to his termination saying it was his depression that caused his poor performance.
What do we need to be prepared to do?
What do we need to be prepared to do?
Comments
A warning--you are terminating for poor job performance. FMLA is for absences. One is not really related to the other. If your employee is trying to claim illness as an excuse for poor job performance, he is mixing apples & oranges. Work to keep the two separate. FMLA does not cover poor job performance.
Best wishes.
That said, it is up to the EE to advance any ADA issue. As stilldazed said, do NOT bring it up.
If this concept is advanced, I would provide a job description to the EE and have the EE take it to his/her medical provider to determine what sort of accomodation could be made. It is up to the EE (and his/her service provider) to suggest accomodations. Once that step is done, then the ER can determine if any of the accomodations are both reasonable and do-able.
I don't think there are lots of accomodations that will work for you that allow for poor performance as an accomodation.
In these situations we have referred and allowed people to use our EAP free of charge. Terminating them is not going to cure their depression and I would hate to send them off the deep end.
I am new at HR and have another question/questions:
Is there a better day of the week to term? IS there a better time of day to term?
I look forward to your thoughts in this matter.
Judy
In my opinion, it is best to do it immediately after you have made the final decision. Give payroll an hour or so to get the final check ready and then pull the trigger.
Good luck.