Disability, Medical Leave: Aide Has Rights Under Two Statutes.

Disability, Medical Leave: Aide Has Rights Under Two Statutes.

Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession

August 2016

One form of reasonable accommodation to an employee with a disability under the ADA is to allow the employee time off when unable to work or for medical care for the disabling condition.

If the disability amounts to a serious health condition the employee may also have the right to intermittent medical leave under the FMLA.

In this case the employee had rights under both statutes. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT PENNSYLVANIA July 12, 2016

A nurses aide was fired after accumulating more absences than her supervisors were willing to tolerate.

The fired employee blamed many of her absences on her asthma and an unspecified form of cancer. Her supervisors knew she had to take time off when she was unable to work or had to undergo medical treatments for her conditions.

The US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania saw that this employee had rights under the US Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and the US Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

Time off when a disabled employee cannot work due to his or her disability is recognized as a form of reasonable accommodation to which a disabled employee may be entitled under the ADA.

The disability may also amount to a serious health condition for which the employee has rights to medical leave under the FMLA. Bertig v. Julia, 2016 WL 3683439 (M.D. Penna., July 12, 2016).