Can a employer terminate you for not being fit for duty, if the doctor recommend time off from work?
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Can a employer terminate you for not being fit for duty, if the doctor recommend time off from work?
5 months I was terminated from my job . The company sent me to their company psychologist for a fitness for duty test. I took the test and their doctor establish that I wasn’t fit for duty time off from work could help with therapy or that I could work in a safety sensitive position. The company terminated me and told me to become fit for duty I need to pay for my testing. So I did. I had to find a doctor of psychology and pay for another fitness for duty exam. He did the establish I was fit for duty and that I could return back to work full-duty.
Asked on September 4, 2011 under Employment Labor Law, Texas
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
A company may not discriminate against someone owing to a disability, but 1) not all medical conditions rise to the level of disability--they must be permanent or least long lasting, beyond reasonable or ready amelioration, affect your ability to do the normal incidents of life or work, etc., and also be established or establishable as disabilities by medical evidence; and 2) even if an employee has a genuine disability, the company merely needs to make reasonable accomodations, which are accomodations, or changes, which are not too expensive or disruptive to operations. The company does not need to pay or employee someone who can't do the job, even with some accomodations. From what you write, therefore, it may be that the company could terminate you when, without something that seems to be a cognizable disability, they were told you couldn't do the job they hired you to do--again, the company does not to employ people who cannot work.
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