Question

Case Study – Accommodating a Disability

John was hired on January 15, 1997. He has been working the night shift throughout the past 10 years. John has had a troubled history with the organization. The employee has been disciplined on a few occasions (mostly for insubordinate behaviour and inappropriate comments to co-workers) and has in turn filed a number of grievances against the supervisor and various co-workers. Some grievances have been settled quietly and others have been dismissed once the union and management have reviewed and discussed.

Given the various grievances that John has filed against co-workers, one (1) particular co-worker (Mac) filed a harassment complaint against John in 2004 citing that John continually picks on him and the behaviour is unwanted (this is all in addition to four (4) grievances filed that were all dismissed). Needless to say, John does not have any friends at work. He is a loner and does not participate in any group activity or staff events outside of work. Some workers (especially new hires) have tried to befriend him, with no luck. The supervisor (Brent) believes that John may have an undisclosed mental health problem.

Upon returning from the Christmas holidays this year, John approached his supervisor and says that his doctor has advised him to take eight (8) of paid sick leave to recover from “stress and burnout”. The employee hands his supervisor a doctor’s note to confirm this advice, and explains that he needs to be away from work starting right away.

Brent notes to himself that John has made no secret that he would prefer to transfer from his current night shift to a day shift or to a different location, but he doesn’t have the seniority to successfully apply for any of these positions. With this new request for leave, Brent is concerned that John and the doctor randomly requested a lengthy absence.

Nonetheless, since John presented a valid doctor’s note, the supervisor grants the employee’s request. Brent schedules the start and end dates of the sick leave in the employee database.

Three days before he is supposed to return to work, John delivers another doctor’s note saying it’s his recommendation that John be transferred to the day shift immediately.

Brent is frustrated and approaches you – a consultant with MCHR Consulting (an external company that is often engaged to assist with difficult cases). He recounts John’s history and asks you to advise him on what his next steps are. He also asks as a further option, what can be done about terminating John for good?

Answer 1

First of all after one accomodation second accomodation should be made very long in advance with all the concerning authorities informed such as HR and manager not in the ending days with a letter only. And after accomodation the behaviour and mental stress should be checked while working in office as compared before mental statement of john with weekly or monthly observations. My advice is to check the behaviour and attitude of john after providing him accomodation and if he still not fulfilling his job requirements as an employee of the workspace then a termination letter should be made. You can develop your own procedure and policies to minimize this legal accomodation process by brainstorming such employees and after all that still they won't do good then terminate them with valid reasons and with the list of improvements to be done in future procurement of jobs. You can also deny accomodation in undue hardship situation if the accomodation is eating company's profits and causing trouble to others.

As for the termination you can john we've granted you accomodation as requested but still we couldn't see any improvements in the workspace just the way we want them to be. So hereby we terminate your employment effective immediately so you can find better job according to your requirements.