Firing Accommodated Employee

Question:

Jennifer,

A patient scheduler asked for permission to work for home, which I granted a few weeks ago.   She said she needed an accommodation, but didn’t really give me medical reasons why. I relented.    She’s now not doing her job and I’d like to fire her.  Is she going to sue me?

Thanks,
Dr. M
 
Answer:

So, this is a tough one because you’ve already granted an accommodation whether, or not warranted, meaning you’ve already made the concession that the practice can suffer a scheduling person working from home.  Now, let’s assume this employee is “At Will”, meaning you can fire her for any reason, so long as it’s not a discriminatory reason, then if the employee is not performing the job task as required, and as you say, she is not working, not accessible, not taking calls, not doing assigned tasks, then absolutely are within your right to fire.  I would be sure to have the failure to perform documented, however, because the employee may try to come back and say that you’re firing for the employee utilizing a reasonable accommodation provided.  The situation can certainly get very messy if an administrative action is filed or threat of lawsuit. 

If you would like help documenting prior to terminating, I’m happy to tag in.  No matter what we do, I cannot guarantee the employee may not cause an issue after termination, but I can promise we can do our best to help you button up in advance of any attack.  This is why you carry Employment Practices Liability Insurance (hopefully).