Human Resource Blog

Severing employee on short term disability

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Our medical practice is private and small. There are few enough employees that it doesn’t qualify for FMLA.

After 3 months of work, one of our new employees (receptionist) suddenly went out on short term disability (emotional issues). She was out of work x8 weeks and has now returned just this week to half-days for the next 3-weeks. She has informed us that after the three weeks her doctor will decided if she is ready for full-time. But, she may not be ready.

At this point we are quite frustrated. The rest of our front staff has been strained to the hilt because of her absence. We really need a full-time person. She does a good job and is liked; but at this point the docs would like to just get rid of her. . . .we DO need a full-time person. I think they feel enough is enough. Apparently, the docs are afraid to give her an ultimatum while she is still on disability (ie. either return full time or leave). They are concerned with legal action from her.

What do your experts think? What are our options? Any guidance would be appreciated.

G.

It is probably better to separate the two issues here: What should we do with this employee? And, How can we get all the work done? The doctors are probably right not to want to terminate someone who is on disability. You will want to carefully gather all the facts before doing so. If the employee has a disability under the EEOC definition, then the employer may be required to allow her to work part-time as a reasonable accommodation. This is one of the most common accomodations in the business world, under ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act.

You can certainly require that the employees doctor certify her disability, but firing her might not be your best course of action. The ADA covers employers with 15 or more employees. Some states have similar laws that cover smaller employers. Bear in mind that you have exactly the same requirement to accommodate someone with an emotional health issue, as you do someone with cancer or a heart attack.

Your frustration is entirely understandable. You just need for the work to be done. It sounds like other employees have been working the extra hours, but are not eager to continue to do so. One option would be to contact a temporary service, and hire someone to fill in part-time until this employee returns to work full-time. Another option would be to hire a temporary employee to fill in, making it clear to that person that the job will end when the employee returns to full-time work. Another option would be to hire a part-time receptionist to fill in, and allow her to continue working after the full-time employee returns. (However, be aware that usually the ADA requires that you return the full-time receptionist to her usual job when she is recovered.)

A cynic would say that you have had 8 weeks to come up with a solution to this staffing problem. Understandably, each week you probably thought things would get better next week. But it is not really fair to penalize the disabled employee for your lack of responsiveness.

Read more about ADA compliance here: http://www.eeoc.gov/types/ada.html