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Fired-bad performance due to depression

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a3593

Junior Member
Maryland

Hello all. My spouse was recently fired due to overlooking some safety rules at his job. He held this position for 10 years. The thing is that he has been seeing his doctor all year for depression/mood disorder. He has made good progress with meds & therapy. He never advised his immediate supervisor due to the stigma attached to this disorder-just his HR dep't so that he could take FMLA for it. (It was approved.) His illness causes lack of concentration among other things, and this caused him to forgo the safety things that got him terminated. His union, which is very weak, has filed a grievance, and it is coming up. Does he have any legal recourse? Should he even bring this up since he never told his direct manager? Does the ADA come into effect here? Any advice is appreciated--thanks.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
 


Beth3

Senior Member
Even if your husband has a disability that falls under the protection of the ADA, "reasonable accommodation" does not include allowing an employee to ignore job safety requirements. Putting himself or his co-worker at risk of injury (or worse) is not something the employer ever has to allow under any circumstances.

Your husband should pursue the grievance through his union and see what happens but there is no other legal recourse.
 

a3593

Junior Member
Thanks for taking the time to give input Beth. :eek: I know they don't have to allow safety violations, but they aren't under any obligation to consider his illness & treatment when deciding if to re-instate him or not? Or can they just treat his case as if he were just negligent and deny his grievance?
 

CourtClerk

Senior Member
Thanks for taking the time to give input Beth. :eek: I know they don't have to allow safety violations, but they aren't under any obligation to consider his illness & treatment when deciding if to re-instate him or not? Or can they just treat his case as if he were just negligent and deny his grievance?
He was negligent. How come his illness doesn't allow him to forget to go to work for 10 years? It's 10 years of (seemingly) the same routine. Would that be your argument if someone (including him) got hurt? They should excuse it because he has an "illness?"
 

Beth3

Senior Member
No, the company isn't required to consider his mental health problems in deciding whether to reinstate him. The safety violations demonstrate that he is an "at risk" employee in the workplace to himself and others.

Sorry I couldn't give you a more positive answer; I understand that your husband has been doing the best he can but as I said above, there aren't any circumstances in which an employer has to tolerate violation of safety rules and unsafe acts in the workplace. Compliance with work safety rules are an absolute.
 

>Charlotte<

Lurker
but they aren't under any obligation to consider his illness & treatment when deciding if to re-instate him or not? Or can they just treat his case as if he were just negligent and deny his grievance?
Any obligation to accommodate his illness is superseded by his failure to conform to safety regulations.

They're treating his case as if he were negligent because he was negligent.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
And even under the ADA, the employer is never required to accept behavior or poor performance in a disabled employee that they would not accept in a non-disabled employee.
 

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