HR Case Study: Disabled family memberPositive Practices: Dealing with an Employee Who is Responsible for a Disabled Family Member

HR Case Study Question: Is There an Employer Responsibility to Accommodate for a Disabled Family Member Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?

Workplace Scenario to Manage

Janet is a 53-year-old single mom of four teens, one of which has cerebral palsy. She works as the administrative assistant to a medium-sized glass container company. As the sole caregiver for her family, it falls under Janet’s responsibilities to provide for her children’s housing, food, clothing, and all their medical needs. Janet’s youngest son, Josh, a disabled family member, is 15-years-old and requires frequent visits to his many physicians to stay current with the treatment of his cerebral palsy. Many of these appointments can only be made during the 9-to-5 workday and Janet’s employer is trying hard to accommodate her personal family responsibilities but also needs her to be on the job during the business hours. In this situation, both Janet and her employer want to find a workable solution to this ongoing dilemma, otherwise, both realize she may well have to start looking for another position. Janet doesn’t want to lose her job and Janet’s boss doesn’t want to lose her.

Regulations to Navigate

Janet is protected by the ADA from discrimination based on her “association” or “relationship” with a disabled family member, in this case, her son Josh. However, there is no requirement on the employer’s part to provide a reasonable accommodation to this employee so she can deal with her son’s disability. Reasonable accommodations are only required for employees who have their own disabilities.

If Janet cannot be at her job regularly due to care-giving and medical appointment obligations for a disabled family member, then her employer could let her go (if she has used up all her available time off to attend to personal issues). What we really are looking at is a Family Medical Leave Act in this all too common situation. Since Janet is working for a “medium sized” business of 50 or more employees, her employer who must offer Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) rights to individuals who have worked for at least 12 months and have logged at least 1,250 hours in the previous 12 months of work.

Assuming Janet has qualified as an FMLA eligible individual, she can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave (generally within a 12-month rolling period) with her job status and all its benefits protected, to deal with her own or a disabled family member’s “serious medical condition.” To complicate matters in this scenario, Janet recently spent nearly 12 weeks recuperating from a back injury and was on FMLA leave during that time. She has only a couple of days of FMLA leave left for the next couple of months. As we know, her child has a serious medical condition: cerebral palsy. Her employer must allow her to take the needed time to attend her child’s medical appointments by certifying her for FMLA leave in increments as small as their time-keeping system tracks (perhaps 15 minutes). Each time Janet needs FMLA time off for an appointment for a disabled family member she must follow normal procedures established by the employer for individuals that request time off for medical appointments. For example, Janet’s employer may require two days notice, or whatever the case may be that is considered a reasonable policy for their business.

Solution to Consider

In this scenario, we assume remaining FMLA time will quickly be exhausted for the year, and now both the employer and the employee must work together to find a mutually satisfactory agreement. Each individual recognizes the value of what the other offers to him or her. Possible solutions include bringing in a temporary worker from a local agency to fill in for Janet’s absences or training another employee to fulfill Janet’s duties while she is gone. In turn, to minimize the likelihood of other employees being burdened unfairly to pick up the slack for Janet, Janet might be cross-trained in others’ positions as well to fill in for them during their vacations or sick and personal days.

What cannot be minimized is the desire by both parties to seek out a workable alternative demonstrating high work standards as well as compassionate understanding for the challenges faced from either side of this dilemma. When both employers and employees are committed to working together to find a way through such challenges, this resolve only strengthens the workplace environment and therefore, productivity.

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Case study written by Michele Howe – HR Advocate contributor