Does ADA mean employee can sleep on the job?
February 2, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: Americans with Disabilities Act, Best Practices, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
HR often must go to great lengths to accommodate employees with disabilities. But does a company have to go as far as letting someone nap at work?
In one recent case, an employee was fired after dozing off during duty.
His job: flight instructor for Southwest Airlines. Frequently he would fall asleep while giving lectures. The problems continued for about a year and a half before he was terminated.
The employee suffered from sleep apnea — meaning he often couldn’t control when he fell asleep. He told his manager the problems would be limited if his shift was changed — but that would have required other employees working longer, so no change was made.
He also argued that he could work just fine despite his condition. But the company wouldn’t take any chances — after all, his job was to make sure pilots could do their jobs safely. So, without any other options, the company fired him.
He sued, claiming Southwest fired him because of his disability, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Accommodating sleeping disorders
Who won the case?
Answer: the company.
The court ruled it would’ve been unreasonable for the company to continue having an employee with a sleep disorder train their pilots on how to stay safe. Since he couldn’t perform the essential functions of his job — and no reasonable accommodation seemed to be available — the company was right in firing him.
Note: ADA suits are always case-specific. A condition that prevents employees from performing one job may not have the same result in others.
In some positions, allowing an employee the chance to take short rest periods may be a reasonable accommodation for a sleeping disorder.
What unusual accommodation requests have you received? Let us know in the comments section below.
Cite: Grubb v. Southwest Airlines
Tags: disability, sleep apnea, sleeping disorders, Southwest
February 4th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
I had an employee who wanted accomadate her by purchasing a computer for her home when she broke her arm and leg on the same weekend. She was in a wheelchair because she could not use crutches. She also wanted us to deliver the mail from the post office box daily so she could do accounts receivble and payable from her home. She was only going to be off work 6-8 weeks. and we offered short term disability. When we told her no and hired a temporary employee she said she was going ot look into her rights.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
What about an employee that sleeps on her job because she takes pain killers for a neck
problem.
She gets her job done but it is a problem.
February 4th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Thank the government for the ADA and these scenarios. The ADA was good to a point, but every “victim” of any malady is trying to make their case for a disability when they don’t or won’t do their jobs. No one wants to accept responsibility for anything anymore, and the government is more than willing to permit it to happen.
February 4th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
This guy is supposed to be training pilots. We put our lives in the hands of these pilots every time we get on a plane. For the most part, these pilots are trained by some the best people on the planet and most have prior military experience. However, it would scare me to death to know that my pilot was trained by a fellow that kept falling asleep in the lecture.
February 6th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
A broken arm and leg are not disabilities under the ADA. They are injuries that have a finite set recovery time. If you have company sponsored short term disability – fine, otherwise she is on her own.
February 6th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Was the employee under treatment for sleep apnea? Specifically, does he use a C-pap and was he actually using it when he went to sleep at night at prescribed?. If he was under treatment, but was not using the machine than the company was fully in the right. If he was, and was still having problems to that extent, than he should have returned to his doctor for new settings on his c-pap. I am a sleep apnea patient and the settings need to be set as your body changes to stay effective.