WEB Disability Sites & Legal Journals
Dianne
At 07:00 PM 5/25/96 MST, you wrote:
>I'm looking for information regarding the right of an individual to
>continue working while suffering from a seizure disorder. I represent an
>individual who lost his job because he recently lost seizure control while
>experimenting with trying to live without medication. He started having a
couple
>of seizures per week, all without warning. Mostly, they are petit mal
>seizures, and he has been able to continue his shift after each.
A person with a seizure disorder has the same right to work as any
other person, but the problem lies in what "accommodation" could be made.
If the client you represent had control over the seizures with
medication and lost that control when trying to get along without the
medication, then it would seem that the client should restart the medication
to regain control.
>The employer
>is bothered by the sight of the seizures, and has made some obnoxious remarks
>which indicate a hostility or at least a lack of respect for people with
>disabilities. His doctor has written him a return to work recommendation. In
>fact, the doctor thinks he would be better off back to work, at a job he
has held
>for 6 years.
By, "The employer", do you mean the actual employer or a supervisor?
If these remarks were witnessed as having been made by the supervisor, then
the employee has the right to seek redress from the next higher level of
supervision, which might be the owner. If the owner-employer made these
remarks, then that is an attitudinal problem
The doctor is saying that this person is able to work. However, if
there is a danger to the employee or others because of unpredictable
seizures, then the employer can request that the doctor indicate that the
employee's seizure are again controlled by medication, which makes it less
dangerous for the employee and others.
>The employer, however, will not return him to work until the doctor
>varifies that he has control over his seizures, currently an impossibility.
His
>job did not entail working around dangerous machinery. He did work at a table
>with a sharp knife on occasion. Reference to literature or specific
sources would
>be very appreciated. Thanks.
>
The employers request is reasonable since the history given shows
that the seizuers are controllable with medication.
Hypothetical scenario: Your client is at work and experiences a
seizuer while walking past a co-worker who has their back to him. The lack
of muscle control causes the client to fall against the other worker and the
other worker is injured as a result of having the client's full weight land
on them unexpectedly and the second worker is then off work due to the
injury. Now what?
Yes, the second employee is covered under workers' comp, but the
comp carrier is not going to support this alone. They are going to want to
know why the situation was allowed and the employer, regardless of WC
coverage can be the subject of a suit on the basis of negligent
hiring/employment because the employer was and is aware of the seizure
disorder your client formerly had under control with medication.
I am not an attorney, but given only the information you provided,
simple common sense provides the answer. Additionally, simply being
afflicted with a disorder does not automatically mean that an employee is
covered by the provisions of ADA. A disability as qualified under ADA is
not the same thing as having a medical problem that is chronic in nature
unless that condition interferes with one or more major life activities.
To my knowledge, no one can compel an employer to accept a situation
that increases the employer's risk/liability in the event of injury. The
employer does have the right to require a medical certification for a return
to work and that certification will have to ensure that the employee is
again medically stable and fit for duty. In this case, the employee will
probably have to use the medication to control seizures because it is known
that not taking the medication causes him to have unpredictable episodes.
Petit Mal or Grand Mal, the seizures can cause problems for the
employee, co-workers and the employer that are an unreasonable expectation
and risk.
> Shel Stark, e-mail: sst...@rust.net
>
Dianne <voi...@rippers.com>
Sheldon Stark
The person is back on medication, but he has not yet been able to get
back
his former control. In the meantime, he is not a danger to himself or others,
except in the somewhat strained scenario you mentioned. That scenario is
extremely unlikely to occur.
I don't believe the answer to this man's problem is so clear as you
suggest on the basis of "common sense" or any other criteria. I think instead
that one's attitudes and values, whether one identifies with the victim or an
employer, is more likely to determine how we see the solution or the
proper outcome.
I don't think there is any question that the person would be eligable
for
coverage under the ADA. He has a history of a medical condition, a seizure
disorder, which does not---in my view---interfer with his ability to do the job.
He can do the job, and has done it for years. He has also been able to do it
for
months during the period his seizures were out of control. Perhaps it is
reasonable for an employer to demand that he be seizure free before he can
return
to work; but the more important question is whether it violates the ADA? By
your
view, this guy is out of work in the meantime. There is no insurance to cover
this, his position has now been filled by another person newly hired, and this
individual has no money.
The question is not easy. Thanks for your thoughts, Diane. We don't
agree.
Shel Stark
Bill Wells
Mr Stark
Please e-mail me offline to discuss this. The best. Use
bwe...@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu. I am an attorney and somewhat a rehab act/ada
specialist, though on the defense sidde normally, since I work for a
government agency.
Bill
Sheldon J. Stark
Bill:
You were really up early this morning. I get to the office at 7:30,
but you beat all of us. Where are you? What government agency do you
represent?
I think the principal issue in this case is whether it is reasonable
for this individual to expect an accomodation to his seizure condition. I
don't believe it will ever be shown that he is a danger to himself or others
outside of what would be the case if he stayed at home and never worked
again. I've been reading the medical records of this individual, and it
appears that the bulk of his seizures do not involve anything more than
suddenly staring into space, looking pre-occupied etc. Grand Mal seizures
and loss of body control are rare.
What I would really like is some source of statistics or data
regarding people who are working but do not have seizures under control.
Who might I get that kind of information from? I think any judge hearing
this case would want to know that there are lots of people with this
condition working. If people don't work with this condition, than maybe *I*
should know that.
Thanks for your help.
Shel Stark
SUDA...@aol.com
In a message dated 96-05-28 09:47:27 EDT, you write:
<< What I would really like is some source of statistics or data
regarding people who are working but do not have seizures under control.
Who might I get that kind of information from? >>
PMFJI... but you should also look at the statistics on disabled workers in
general... from what I understand disabled workers are statistically more
reliable than non-disabled workers. I do not have the statistics anymore, or
I would give them to you. Hope this helps a little. (BTW, I know of many
people who have seizures who are employed.)
Susan
Pete Roberts
On Sat, 25 May 1996, Sheldon Stark wrote:
> I'm looking for information regarding the right of an individual to
> continue working while suffering from a seizure disorder. I represent an
> individual who lost his job because he recently lost seizure control while
> experimenting with trying to live without medication.
How could this person go off of their medication. There are medications
that help or at least minimize the seizures. We know that if one does not
take medication they will have seizures. This person is endangering their
life(what if in a seize they hit their head, they are putting the work
place in danger of a law suit, this is not fair either. We need to be
responsible enough to try to minimize the liability we cause ourselves
and others.
Ceceilia
He started having a couple
> of seizures per week, all without warning. Mostly, they are petit mal
> seizures, and he has been able to continue his shift after each. The employer
> is bothered by the sight of the seizures, and has made some obnoxious remarks
> which indicate a hostility or at least a lack of respect for people with
> disabilities. His doctor has written him a return to work recommendation. In
> fact, the doctor thinks he would be better off back to work, at a job he has
held
> for 6 years. The employer, however, will not return him to work until the
doctor
> varifies that he has control over his seizures, currently an impossibility.
His
> job did not entail working around dangerous machinery. He did work at a table
> with a sharp knife on occasion. Reference to literature or specific sources
would
> be very appreciated. Thanks.
>
> Shel Stark, e-mail: sst...@rust.net
>
>
> Lori Morey wrote:
> >
> > COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF U.S. NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS & PROGRAMS:
> > http://www.sc.edu/swan/national.html (Many Social Wkr and Disabilities
sites)
> >
> > SOCIAL WORKER:
> > http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/SocWork/webstuff.html (Main page, includes
> > SWAN)
> >
> > NOT-FOR-PROFIT SITE FOR HOUSING, HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES:
> > http://www.duke.edu/~ptavern/housing.html
> >
> > WEB LEGAL JOURNALS:
> > http://www.ncl.ac.uk/~nlawwww/
> > http://www.ncl.ac.uk/~nlawwww/admin/searches.html (To perform search)
> > http://www.ncl.ac.uk/~nlawwww/Iforms/findlaw.html (Mutliple law search
> > options for the Stanford Digital Library of any and all legal journals)
> >
> > Lori Morey
> > CMM...@aol.com
>
AMARIS
This is the kind of exchange I believe is most valuable on this list. I
want to urge the lawyers, and other serious advocates, to ignore the
drival we have had to wade through and stay with the list, and post to
the list, and not go into private discussion unless it is absolutely
necessary.
I don't want to see this list destroyed by a few who don't take it
seriously.
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"Find out just what any people will submit to and you have the exact measure
of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them."
- Frederick Douglass
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AMARIS....(((((*) Laser Impressions ----- a_mc...@efn.org -----
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On Tue, 28 May 1996, Sheldon J. Stark wrote:
> Bill:
>
> You were really up early this morning. I get to the office at 7:30,
> but you beat all of us. Where are you? What government agency do you
> represent?
>
> I think the principal issue in this case is whether it is reasonable
> for this individual to expect an accomodation to his seizure condition. I
> don't believe it will ever be shown that he is a danger to himself or others
> outside of what would be the case if he stayed at home and never worked
> again. I've been reading the medical records of this individual, and it
> appears that the bulk of his seizures do not involve anything more than
> suddenly staring into space, looking pre-occupied etc. Grand Mal seizures
> and loss of body control are rare.
>
> What I would really like is some source of statistics or data
> regarding people who are working but do not have seizures under control.
SUQKRT
Cecilia,
Yes it is important for a person with a seizure disorder to take their
medication, but what if the side effects are worse than the seizures?
Many of the drugs cause drowsiness and other effects. With milder
seizures it could be a matter of which is worse the cure or the disease.
Sue