The Fleet Business Authority
Issue link: http://heavydutytrucking.epubxp.com/i/236631
SA E Y F T ADA overlap Your rights and responsibilities If an employee needs weeks or months off, you may wonder when you can terminate the individual and hire a replacement. An accommodation should help the employee perform the essential job functions, not merely provide whatever time off is needed for recovery, but reasonable time off can still be a required accommodation. If an injured employee cannot provide even an estimated date of return, tions, an accommodation transfer can be denied only if granting the transfer would cause undue hardship. As noted, this isn't easy to establish, particularly when the disabled employee is qualified. Many states have never addressed a transfer case, but the trend seems to be toward granting the transfer rather than simply allowing the disabled employee to compete with other applicants. State workers' compensation laws expect you to help injured employees return to work, but don't require holding a job for a specified time. How much time off should the injured employee get? you do not have to grant unlimited time off. However, accommodations such as providing lifting aids or making other adjustments might allow the injured employee to return. Another possible accommodation involves a transfer to an alternative position that is available or soon to become available, and for which the employee is qualified. A driver with a back injury might be unable to drive or perform related duties, but if another position is available and the employee is qualified, consider a transfer rather than releasing the employee. Normally, employers are not required to select a disabled individual over a more qualified individual. However, some courts have held that employers cannot require a disabled employee to compete with other applicants for a transfer. Instead, a qualified disabled employee must be given the position. In some jurisdicwww.truckinginfo.com Compliance check Before deciding that a few weeks off is excessive and replacing an injured employee, make sure you understand the crossover between workers' compensation and the ADA. If the injured employee offers an estimated date of return, evaluate how much time off can reasonably be granted, consider adjustments that might allow him or her to perform the job, and evaluate the potential for transferring the employee to an available position. Termination should be considered only after determining that these options are not reasonable. Edwin Zalewski, PHR, is an editor at J.J. Keller & Associates Inc. He specializes in employment law issues such as discrimination and harassment, overtime, exemptions and labor relations. He can be reached at hreditors@jjkeller.com. Shorts OBESITY AND WORKERS' COMP T he recent reclassification by the American Medical Association of obesity as "a disease state" effectively declared that one-third of all Americans has a medical condition requiring treatment. The obesity classification means that doctors now will point out obesity as a condition that needs to be addressed as part of a whole work comp treatment plan, according to HNI, an insurance and safety consulting company. An example of this would be an employee who needs to lose weight before undergoing back surgery. PROTECT AGAINST FALLS F all Protection was the most frequently cited standards violation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in its 2013 fiscal year, cited 8,241 times. Hazard Communication was the second most frequent, cited 6,156 times. RIGHT WAY ON THE THRUWAY T he New York Thruway has installed the first-in-the-nation Doppler-radar-enhanced LED signs to alert wrong way drivers before they enter the Niagara Expressway, also known as I-190, at the southbound exit 9 off-ramp in Buffalo. JANUARY 2014 • HDT 25