Suppose your business has taken a downturn and you decide to implement a reduction in force. Can you lay off a person whose work performance has slipped due to a condition that is covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)? A new federal Court of Appeal opinion says yes, and the ruling also has important implications for handling disabled employees generally.
Worker’s Reduced Hours Lead To Layoff
James Matthews was a Commonwealth Edison manager when he suffered a severe heart attack. He returned to work six months later on a part-time schedule. Because of Matthews’ limited work hours, Commonwealth Edison placed him in a nonsupervisory job while maintaining his prior rate of pay. But because of his reduced work output, Matthews received a low performance rating.
A few months later, the utility began a reduction in force, basing its layoff decisions on performance. As a result of his recent poor review, his reduced work schedule and the fact that he was still receiving a supervisor’s pay, Matthews was ranked ‘least valuable’ for layoff purposes and was let go.
Matthews sued, claiming his termination violated the ADA. He said that if he hadn’t been disabled, he wouldn’t have received a low performance rating and probably wouldn’t have been laid off. Commonwealth Edison argued that the ADA doesn’t protect workers like Matthews who are terminated because of poor performance even if the reason for the problem is a disability.
Lower Performance Standards Not Required
The Court of Appeal pointed out that a reduction in force is not an excuse for discriminating against disabled employees and that the ADA forbids employers from terminating qualified disabled workers because of their disability. However, the ADA doesn’t protect an employee who cannot do the job, including meeting standards of performance or work output, even if the inability to do so stems from a disability.
Join us this fall in San Francisco for the California Employment Law Update conference, a 3-day event that will teach you everything you need to know about new laws and regulations, and your compliance obligations, for the year ahead—it’s one-stop shopping at its best.
The court threw out Matthews’ case, explaining that the utility didn’t violate the ADA because the decision to let Matthews go was based on his low work output, not his disability.
What This Case Means To You
This ruling makes it clear that under the ADA you have a right to make employment decisions using reasonable performance standards, even if this means disabled employees don’t fare as well. Therefore, when you hire, promote or lay off employees, your decisions can be based on who can do the best job.
The following guidelines may help prevent problems from escalating and make it easier to defend yourself if you do get sued:
- Use job descriptions. Without an accurate description of the position’s essential functions, it may be difficult to objectively determine whether someone meets the job’s requirements. This could lead to trouble if, for example, you lay off a disabled employee while retaining other non-disabled workers.
- Establish performance and work standards. If possible, spell out how much work an employee needs to perform in a given period of time. For example, you can require a data processor to input a certain number of keystrokes, records or orders per hour or day.
It also helps to describe the tasks with as much detail as possible. For example, a manager might need to complete annual performance evaluations on schedule, train five new employees a month and attend weekly management meetings. Your judgment about the amount and type of work that is required usually won’t be questioned if your standards are reasonable, job-related and consistently applied.
- Give employees notice and a chance to improve. If you implement specific performance standards for the first time or you revise existing ones, give employees plenty of advance notice of what is going to be expected of them. Also, try to do everything possible to help employees meet the standards, whether by providing training, coaching or other assistance.