Court: Bipolar employee should’ve gotten time off — company loses 91K
September 24, 2008 by Sam NarisiPosted in: Americans with Disabilities Act, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Recent Decisions
It’s an HR question the courts have been wrestling with lately: When do psychological disorders qualify employees for protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act?
In one recent case, an employee with bipolar disorder sued his company after he was fired. The condition made him “irrational, delusional, and unable to communicate effectively.” When he had to be hospitalized, the company decided he could no longer do his job.
He sued, claiming the termination violated the ADA. The court agreed.
First, the court determined the employee was protected by the ADA. The bipolar disorder substantially limited several of his major life functions — specifically, the life activities of “thinking, communicating, interacting with others and caring for himself.”
Then, the court ruled that he could have performed his job with a reasonable accommodation — time off to get treated. Other courts have ruled that leaves of absence are considered reasonable accommodations for employees with psychological disabilities.
The case went before a jury, which awarded the employee a $91,000 payout.
Cite: E.E.O.C. v. Voss Elec. Co. d/b/a Voss Lighting
Tags: ADA, Americans with Disabilities Act, bipolar disorder, psychological disabilities
October 1st, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Everything will soon be a disability - and every “disability” will be able to find a doctor to certify that claim. I, for one, believe the ADA has gone way too far in its quest to make us into victims for everything under the sun. The liberal nanny state marches on.
October 1st, 2008 at 3:31 pm
I disagree, the ADA has not gone too far. Bi-polar is a medical disease - it’s organic in nature. There are highly functioning bi-polars out here, but sometimes they need to take some time down to get back on track. There is no controlling the brain in a bi-polar. Medication helps but does not cure. When a bi-polar has an ‘outbreak’ if you will, the best thing to do is have the bi-polar take the time off or work a flex schedule - as long as the bi-polar person can perform the essential functions of the job. Bi-polar does not mean you are crazy. It is a very misunderstood condition. The bi-polar person needs to take responsiblity for their condition as well and communicate frequently with their Supervisor. Unfortunately, often times in the workplace, Supervisors lose respect for an employee with bi-olar and/or the bi-polar doesn’t take the responsiblity to communicate to the Supervisor. It’s actually sad when people like Larry do not see this as a disability.
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:39 pm
I agree with Larry. The ADA was designed to protect crippled and blind people. Any law that limits the ability of an employer to fire people that are detrimental to his business is tyrrany. Crippled and blind
people can fit in where their disability does not interfere with their job.
The judge himself says “The condition made him “irrational, delusional, and unable to communicate effectively”" You might be able to work around this disability if you were a politician or judge
but it is hard to imagine a job in the private sector that could be productive under these circumstances.
So how does the judge expect this employee to be a positive contributor if he is behaving like this?
He doesn’t, he just expects the employer to give welfare to a disruptive, non contributing person.
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:37 pm
In response to MB: Your perspective is a typical perspective with little respect to the idea of valuing diversity. Bi-polars can work effectively in any sector of business as long as the conditions are right and the bi-polar employee has effective medication. Again, as I said before, it is up to the bi-polar employee to take responsiblity for their medical condition. Bi-polars often have a unique view of the world and can offer some different insight and perspective. Do they have behavior problems? Yes and at times it can be disruptive to the workplace. Just like any other employee who gets upset and angry at work and starts yelling, etc. I admit it is not our responsiblity to be social workers; however, it is our responsibility to have a diverse workforce and have respect for all employees. Labeling a bi-polar as dysfunctional is exactly the reason why those that have bi-polar are hesitant to tell their employer - they simply don’t want to be labeled. And that’s a shame.
October 3rd, 2008 at 6:36 pm
I am a member of NAMI, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. I am also the sibling of a person diagnosed with Bipolar Manic Depression and PTSD. By your comments above, it is obvious that you do not know the science behind the mental illness of bi-polar disorder. When a person is working at a job and has an episode, it takes them up to 2 years to completely recover, and that is only if they don’t have an additional episode during that time. Once the episode occurs, they have to be hospitalized or the medication needs to be changed, etc. The episode leaves that person with a large need for recovery time. Imagine working at your job for a year and then you are hit with an episode. You are treated with new medications that effect your ability to stay awake or give you tremors or any other type of uncomfortable symptom that would not allow you to function the same as you normally do. It’s as if you mind and body turn on you and you can’t wake up from it without time to heal and process the new medication or new levels or medication. The real result is that the mental illness renders a person disabled until they can recover. Bottom line is that mental illnesses ARE disabilities and deserve the same rights under the law of all disabilities. I do understand where you would think that people are just being lazy and want to be determined as “disabled” to take advantage of the system. I thought that once myself, until my brother was stricken with this mental illness. Now I’ve educated myself and learned how difficult it is to get a person on disability. There is a giant book of jobs that a lawyer has to sort through and determine with the court that a person with a mental illness is not able to perform. Did you know that everyone filing for disability is immediately rejected the first time? And when you appeal it takes on average up to 2 years to finally get approved with the help of a lawyer? Do you also know that most people with mental illnesses do not want to go on disability? They want to be treated normally, as they had been before their illness. It is a huge struggle. I think our society needs to learn more about the truths regarding mental illness before we go passing judgement. I know I did.
October 16th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
I agree that people with disabilities need understanding and help, however to what extent should we protect this form of disability? If an employee who is not protected under the ADA is irrational, delusional, and unable to communicate properly they receive a poor performance review and can be fired. I feel to truely not discriminate with people with disabilities we need only make the same resonable accommadations we would for any employee. There are a lot of disabilities both physical and mental but they should not receive special treatment just the same. If any employee is in a customer service role and reacted this way it could hurt the company’s business. It also presents the question of how does this Bi-Polar employee treat the other employees? What happens when he/she feels overwelmed or that others are out to get them? Can the other employees file a harrasment suit against this protected employee? I would not want to share a cubical with someone who cannot be fired for the same behavior that would get me fired.
October 29th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
My question is:”Did the employer know that this person was bipolar when hired?”
If a potential employee is crippled, blind, etc. it is quite obvious to the employer whether or not there is a position that person could handle and probably expect there would be “time off” required and go from there………………..but if this illness was not disclosed at the time of hire - then I don’t see how the employer could be held responsible - certainly not to the tune of 91k.
November 13th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Now, Imagine if you are me. I’m bipolar. Very Bipolar.
I love my job. I care about my coworkers and because of that my production is well above that of other employees. I’m commended constantly about how great of a job I’m doing and how they’d not function properly without me. I’m carrying my entire department…
But every couple of months I stop careing. I soon hate my job, hate these ‘people’ and i hate myself. I dont want to feel this way, but I cant help it. My job preformance just has to suffer until i feel better. Then my boss starts to complain about how she knows my potential holds more but I’m not matching that. It makes everything that much worse.
Things will soon go back to normal, but I cant force it to come any faster… Should i loose my job because of the “down times?” I mean, I surely dont think so…