Under both the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), employers cannot require employees returning from leave to submit to a medical examination unless such an examination is “job-related and consistent with business necessity.”
While you can test employees to ensure that they are capable of performing their essential job functions, it’s easy to blur the line between a job functions test and a medical examination—as one unlucky employer recently learned the hard way.
Kris Indergard worked as a napkin operator for the Georgia-Pacific Corp. in Oregon. Indergard suffered from knee injuries, and spent nearly two years on medical disability leave.
When Indergard’s doctor cleared her to return to work, with permanent restrictions, Georgia-Pacific required her to undergo a “physical capacity evaluation” (PCE) with an outside occupational rehab specialist to determine which essential job functions she could perform.
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The specialist required Indergard to undergo two days of demanding physical tests and made an in-depth inquiry into her mental, emotional, and physical status. At the end of the PCE, the specialist determined that Indergard could not perform any essential job function, and Georgia-Pacific terminated her.
Indergard sued, alleging among other things that her employer made her undergo a medical examination that was not “job-related and consistent with business necessity.” The trial court dismissed the claim, finding that the PCE was a job functions test, not a medical examination.
On appeal, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals—which covers California—disagreed, ruling that the PCE was a medical examination. It sent the case back to the trial court to determine if the examination was justified.
We’ll have more on this case, and on the difference between job function tests and medical examinations, in an upcoming issue of California Employer Advisor.