Can they??

[Touché]

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

My Husband was diagnosed with cancer and was off of work for a year between sick leave and long term disability insurance. He has gone back to work and has now been back for a year, his employers have made certain concessions for his illness.
Last summer they would only work him at night due to the effect heat had with his meds and they would let him have what ever time off he needed because of side effects or doc appointments.
They are now looking for people to let go due to cut backs, although he has senority can they let him go because of the concessions they had previously agreed to or have they set an employment precedent??

 

[swalsh411]

Unless there is a CBA or employment contract that says otherwise, yes.

The cancer issue is not relevant. They have accommodated him (probably beyond what the law requires) and allowed him to take time off.

 

[cbg]

The law does not require that they use seniority in making the decision - nor does it require that they "make concessions" for him.

In fact, the law requires the exact opposite; the law requires that they take his illness completely off the table and disregard it entirely in deciding who does and does not get laid off. They cannot select him for layoff BECAUSE he took medical leave - neither are they required to put him on a protected list and give him immunity from layoff. They are required to ignore his illness and treat him exactly the same as anyone else.

They MAY use seniority, but they are not required to unless a legally binding and enforceable contract or CBA says they are.

 

[Ozark_Sophist]

The law does not require that they use seniority in making the decision - nor does it require that they "make concessions" for him.

In fact, the law requires the exact opposite; the law requires that they take his illness completely off the table and disregard it entirely in deciding who does and does not get laid off. They cannot select him for layoff BECAUSE he took medical leave - neither are they required to put him on a protected list and give him immunity from layoff. They are required to ignore his illness and treat him exactly the same as anyone else.

They MAY use seniority, but they are not required to unless a legally binding and enforceable contract or CBA says they are.

Title I of the ADA requires reasonable accommodations. Depending on more specific details, "concessions" may be reasonable accommodations and depending on interpretation of his illness as a disability.

 

[cbg]

But it does not include making him immune from layoff.

They appear to have been quite generous with the accomodations up to now, but the fact that they have obeyed the ADA does not mean that they are somehow prohibited from laying him off, if his position is one that would have been laid off anyway.

 

[Touché]

Thank you for your answers, although I was only mentioning the cancer as the reason for the concessions that were made NOT in the hopes of there being any immunity from firing because of the cancer. Quite the contrary, if he were unable to perform his duties I would expect that he either quit or be fired.
The company my husband works for has been known in the past to scramble for excuses to fire people, hiding the real reason for the termination. The company is again down sizing and even though he has seniority his job is in jeopardy because he does have seniority (makes considerably more an hour then newer people). The type of cancer he has is untreatable except for experimental drugs, no chemo or radiation effects it. His employers expected him to die instead of coming back. They had figured that they had already gotten rid of him.
They would not say that they were firing him due to the cancer but we were afraid that the days off could be used against him.
So what I was trying to ask and failed miserably is for example the boss tells him he can miss x amount of days for doc appointments then after he has taken the days off the boss fires him for missing those days. We were wondering if they can do this or did they set precedent the first year he was back by all the extra days they allowed him to have off.
He has not as of yet been fired the question was a hypothetical question but similar incidents have been known to happen at this company and we would like to be prepared. Also the "concessions" I was asking about did NOT include the disability time, but the days off here and there that he was given.

Thank you for the answers that were given, and there is no need for any further answers.