Job forcing participation in an activity wher I have a documented medical disability

[rx4life]

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

Hi all, I am a pharmacist and I work for a national grocery store chain. I have worked as a pharmacist for 15 years and 10 years for this company. About 3 years ago a new immunization plan was started. This plan involves the pharmacist giving immunization shots via needle injection. Each pharmacist was sent to a class to learn how to give shots. I am deathly afraid of needles and have been for a long time. During the class I began to hyperventilate while trying to perform an injection. The instructor said that I should not be giving shots because of my reaction. Per the company's direction I went to my doctor and had the doctor complete a company form stating that I have a medical disability and cannot perform the activity of giving shots. Later the company started using a needleless injection form of immunization which I was able to participate in. Shortly thereafter that program was halted because of some issue with that form of needleless injection and the FDA. No other alternative has been introduced since that time. I have each year completed the required medical disability form as per company request. I was just informed that the company is now requiring all pharmacist to give immunization shots and if you can't then you will not be able to continue your employment with the company.
My question to you here is, can the company just add a job requirement after you have been with the company for 10 years? It was never a requirement of a pharmacist anywhere to give shots until the last few years. It is a new trend among pharmacies to give these shots. Can this company legally fire me if I cant do something that I have a documented medical disability? Thanks for any comments you have.

 

[CSO286]

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

Hi all, I am a pharmacist and I work for a national grocery store chain. I have worked as a pharmacist for 15 years and 10 years for this company. About 3 years ago a new immunization plan was started. This plan involves the pharmacist giving immunization shots via needle injection. Each pharmacist was sent to a class to learn how to give shots. I am deathly afraid of needles and have been for a long time. During the class I began to hyperventilate while trying to perform an injection. The instructor said that I should not be giving shots because of my reaction. Per the company's direction I went to my doctor and had the doctor complete a company form stating that I have a medical disability and cannot perform the activity of giving shots. Later the company started using a needleless injection form of immunization which I was able to participate in. Shortly thereafter that program was halted because of some issue with that form of needleless injection and the FDA. No other alternative has been introduced since that time. I have each year completed the required medical disability form as per company request. I was just informed that the company is now requiring all pharmacist to give immunization shots and if you can't then you will not be able to continue your employment with the company.
My question to you here is, can the company just add a job requirement after you have been with the company for 10 years? It was never a requirement of a pharmacist anywhere to give shots until the last few years. It is a new trend among pharmacies to give these shots. Can this company legally fire me if I cant do something that I have a documented medical disability? Thanks for any comments you have.

Does your job description have an "other duties as assigned" clause?

Yes, they can change your job description to fit the company's needs and to serve the customer base better.

ETA:
You might be able to request a reasonable accomodation, but the employer could make the case that it's a necessary job duty.
I'll leave that bit to the employment law experts.

 

[cbg]

can the company just add a job requirement after you have been with the company for 10 years? yes, unless you have a legally binding and enforceable contract that expressly guarantees that they cannot. Personally, after 30+ years in HR I have never seen such a contract.

Can this company legally fire me if I cant do something that I have a documented medical disability? I sincerely doubt that a fear of needles, especially where you are not the one receiving the injection, would qualify as a medical disability for which an accommodation must be granted. But even if it did, there is no requirement under the ADA or any other law than an employer remove an essential function of the position. So yes, I think in the long run if you were fired for your refusal to give injections, that firing would hold up under the law.

And I am quite sure that either on this or another board, this exact question was asked several months ago.

 

[swalsh411]

I am skeptical that your irrational fear (don't mean to offend but that is what it is) qualifies as a disability under the ADA. People get over phobias. They can beat them. A true medical disability, like missing a leg, cannot be overcome with treatment.

 

[tranquility]

I sincerely doubt that a fear of needles, especially where you are not the one receiving the injection, would qualify as a medical disability for which an accommodation must be granted. But even if it did, there is no requirement under the ADA or any other law than an employer remove an essential function of the position. So yes, I think in the long run if you were fired for your refusal to give injections, that firing would hold up under the law.

I agree with cbg and add it is unlikely a phobia of needles is an impairment that would substantially limit a major life activity.

Then again...http://www.hrmorning.com/teacher-claims-disability-she-has-phobia-about-small-children/

It is not impossible.

http://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1422&context=sulr

 

[Isis1]

i hate needles myself. if i was diabetic....i'd die. i get the heart racing, sweating, nausea....anxiety....all that. i let the nurses hold the kids when they get their shots. i cried when i had to have an IV. my hand gets wrapped so i don't have to look at the needle in my arm.

so i understand your pain. and no, there is no way you will ever get me to stick another human being. this is why stabbing is not my choice of self defense.

however, like CBG stated...yes, you can be fired for not performing your assigned duties.

 

[You Are Guilty]

I agree with cbg and add it is unlikely a phobia of needles is an impairment that would substantially limit a major life activity.

Then again...http://www.hrmorning.com/teacher-claims-disability-she-has-phobia-about-small-children/

It is not impossible.

http://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1422&context=sulr

Well that certainly is interesting. Particularly given my phobia about working. I get all nervous when I think about the mounds of paper burying my desk, and how it will all still be there tomorrow if I waste my time reading internet sites.

I am heading straight to my rent-a-shrink's office to get a note, just as soon as I catch up on some football news...

Related legal question: can I force my employer to mail my paychecks to the Bahamas, or must I send my butler to pick them up in person?

 

[tranquility]

Well that certainly is interesting. Particularly given my phobia about working. I get all nervous when I think about the mounds of paper burying my desk, and how it will all still be there tomorrow if I waste my time reading internet sites.

I am heading straight to my rent-a-shrink's office to get a note, just as soon as I catch up on some football news...

Related legal question: can I force my employer to mail my paychecks to the Bahamas, or must I send my butler to pick them up in person?

Good ol' ergophobia. I don't think it is in the DSM though. Perhaps you meant motivational-depressive disorder? Then all we need to have is an interactive process where the employer's boot finds your backside either to break you out of the dysregulation or we conclude you can't do an essential job function so the boot sends you out the door without it hitting you where the boot found you.

 

[rx4life]

I thank you for all your responses and I see from the responses that I have no legal leg to stand on. However, based on the responses that I read you think that I just don't want to work. I was willing to give the shots and was doing it when they went to the needleless injection. I have tried several times to go along with what the company wants. I went to pharmacy school 6 years, not nursing school or medical school. I guess only simple minded people who have never...... never mind. I came here to ask what I thought was a legitimate question about the future of my career that I have invested 16 years into and aside from a couple of post you guys ridiculed and made fun of my issue. I'm not sure if you all are Lawyers in here giving advice, but I'm sure others that happen upon this thread will see that there is a reason why people rank lawyers among the most sleaziest people on earth. You guys sound like you never got out of high school, getting your laughs by making fun of people when they come to you for help. There is a special place for you people.

 

[justalayman]

I went to pharmacy school 6 years,

the last I knew, pharmacists' education is pretty in depth, much more than a nurse in many situations. What did you do during surgical practicals? A pharmacist's job is much more than the mean old guy that whacked Jimmy Steward upside the head. How did you ever get through patient treatment in an OR?

 

[TheGeekess]

I thank you for all your responses and I see from the responses that I have no legal leg to stand on. However, based on the responses that I read you think that I just don't want to work. I was willing to give the shots and was doing it when they went to the needleless injection. I have tried several times to go along with what the company wants. I went to pharmacy school 6 years, not nursing school or medical school. I guess only simple minded people who have never...... never mind. I came here to ask what I thought was a legitimate question about the future of my career that I have invested 16 years into and aside from a couple of post you guys ridiculed and made fun of my issue. I'm not sure if you all are Lawyers in here giving advice, but I'm sure others that happen upon this thread will see that there is a reason why people rank lawyers among the most sleaziest people on earth. You guys sound like you never got out of high school, getting your laughs by making fun of people when they come to you for help. There is a special place for you people.

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Guess you'll need to put on the big person pants and start hunting jobs. Hospitals hire pharmacists.