Disability Dilemmas for Supervisors

As we all know, the ADA prohibits discrimination on account of past, present and perceived physical and emotional disabilities. Generally, the key to avoiding liability is focusing on abilities and not disabilities. That's an easy mantra to articulate, but it can be deceptively complicated for a supervisor to implement. For example:

• An employee has performance problems. The supervisor believes alcohol abuse may be the cause. Can the supervisor focus on the perceived cause of the performance problems without creating a perceived disability claim?
• An employee who receives a written warning requests an accommodation for a stress disorder that allegedly is contributing to the performance deficiencies. How can the supervisor determine whether the employee has a disability potentially entitling him or her to an accommodation without inquiring about and obtaining highly confidential medical information?

Supervisors need to receive training on how to handle these and other workplace situations. This article provides a practical overview of the legal guts of supervisory training on the ADA.