Firing The Disabled

What is the name of your state?CA

We have an employee at work that we like to fire, but my boss won't fire her because she is scared of being sued as she is diabetic. (or so she claims, we've never seen any doctor's report or witnessed taking insulin as she claims she does.)

She is constantly sick and claims she needs to go home after eating a lot of carbs for lunch or for a snack. She also calls in sick often. She claims 40 hours a week each week claiming she makes up for lost time by coming in early, which is untrue. But we don't have a clock at work to prove otherwise, I know this for a fact becasue I always get to work early and she is rarely there when I am. She has openly downloaded porn and been caught playing solitare on the computer. As she is also a smoker, she takes frequent breaks that I have timed up to 20 minutes. On another occasion She's was two hours late coming back from lunch and claimed she had been hit by a car while riding her bike.

As a result, I've had to carry her load of the work and I'm sick of it. I've complained to my boss but like i said she's afraid of a law suit. Is this woman really untouchable????

No, she's not. Despite what many people appear to believe, it is NOT illegal to fire someone who is disabled; it is only illegal to fire someone BECAUSE they are disabled.

If your boss would like to fire this person but is afraid to, what he needs to do is start documenting her behavior, not to mention counseling her about it. When she does something that is unacceptable, such as downloading porn at work (that's a firing offense right there, to heck with the rest of the stuff) or coming in late, or extending her breaks, he needs to let her know that this is unacceptable and document her file. When she has reached the point at which he would fire anyone else, he should go for it. If she tried to claim discrimination, let her. He's got the proof that her alleged disability has nothing to do with it and he had plenty of valid reason to fire.

The problem is that too many people assume that if they have a disability they ARE untouchable, and by making threats of discrimination claims (most of which would never come to anything) they have employers who do not know their own rights over a barrel. Tell the boss to grow a spine and start taking notes.