Doctor's Orders and Treatment Plan

[I_Need_Advice]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)MN

Not sure if this is the correct subforum, so Mods, please feel free to move if necessary.

I have been having chronic back pain for a while, and I went to my doctor for a treatment plan to help alleviate the pain. I sit at my desk typing for 8 hours or more and my doctor wrote a letter for my employer that I be allowed 5 minutes to get up from my desk to move and stretch per hour during my 8-hour shift as well as schedule physical therapy and an MRI. The 5-minute break every hour is only temporary until I meet again with my primary care physician in a couple of months.

I sent my manager the letter and was given these three options:

Take a 20-minute lunch break (down from an hour)
Use 4 hours of PTO every 2 weeks (I accrue 8 hours every 2 weeks, so doiing that would take it down to 4)
Take down 38 hours instead of 40 on my time sheet.

I have not responded yet because I do not agree with it and not sure how to respond, other than my not agreeing. Am I being unreasonable or does this seem a bit severe in order for me to comply with what my doctor suggests?

Thank you.

 

[cbg]

Under no law, not even the ADA, is your employer required by law to follow your doctor's recommendations.

That being said, let me ask you a question.

Have you at any time gone to your employer (preferably to the HR office) and asked for an accomodation under the ADA? This is NOT the same thing as giving them your doctor's letter - I mean actually using the words accomodation and ADA.

If you have not, this would be a good time to do so. Speaking completely in a vaccum, I don't see that a five minute stretch break every hour is unreasonable, but I know nothing whatsoever about your job or your duties or your employee's set up. For all I know there are 16 different reasons why this is not reasonable. What I do know is that until the employer is put on notice that you are requesting a reasonable accomodation under the ADA (and unlike FMLA it is YOUR responsibility to make them aware of the need, not theirs to assume it) they are legally completely free to disregard any and all letters that any doctor up to and including Regina Benjamin may send.

 

[tranquility]

Genuine question as I know little about the specifics of accommodation law, but, is it reasonable to ask the employee to make up for the time he misses for disability?

Multiply it out and it seems like the OP is asking for around three hours a week to not work. Management is saying fine, but you don't get paid for not working. (By approximating the "cost" to them and having the OP make up for it.) I'd say the company is asking for less than it costs them in time, so that seems "reasonable".

I'm just wondering if, under ADA, such things are considered reasonable.

 

[ESteele]

Why not accept the third option? If you take 5 minutes per hour and actually work 35 hours per week, then you would have 175 minutes – nearly three hours -- each week in which you would be stretching and moving around instead of working at the job. Your employer is apparently willing to accommodate this request by paying you only for 38 hours per week instead of 40. This accommodation proposal appears quite fair.

Indeed, it seems to put you in a relatively better financial situation than you are in currently (i.e., earning 38 hours of compensation for 32 hours and 5 minutes of work plus 5 hours for lunch versus earning 40 hours of compensation for 35 hours of work plus 5 hours for lunch). More importantly, this stretching and moving around will hopefully alleviate your back pain.

At bottom, looking at this situation from your perspective, your employer may have an obligation to reasonably accommodate a disability-related request. It does not, however, have to lose money in order to accommodate said request. Looking at the third proposal through this lens, this proposal appears equitable and generous.

 

[cbg]

Tranq, what is and is not considered reasonable is very, very company and job specific. Any given action might be reasonable at Microsoft and unreasonable for a mom-and-pop grocery (or vice versa); it might be reasonable for the VP of Marketing and unreasonable for the receptionist (or vice versa). I don't think we know enough about the OP's position to say if making up time is reasonable or not.