What Do You Think: Did Firing Worker on Morning of Oncology Visit Violate ADA?

Geismar, LA (WorkersCompensation.com) – A company may expose itself to ADA liability by failing to engage in the interactive process. But what if it fires the employee just before that process starts? 

A federal District Court in Louisiana recently addressed that issue in deciding whether to grant summary judgment to a company that terminated a maintenance administrator with eye cancer hours before she visited her oncologist. 

The administrator, who worked for a bulk liquids storage company, discovered she had cancer on May 22, 2019. She informed the director of the company’s mechanical division of her diagnosis. 

Around the end of July or early August, the director complained multiple times to the general manager of the facility, who was ultimately responsible for the termination, about the administrator’s poor performance. This allegedly included an instance in which the administrator was loud and unprofessional at the front desk. But the company had no documentation concerning any of those discussions or complaints. 

In mid-July, the employee had surgery to remove the cancer. On July 31, she asked the director if she could leave work early on August 2 to attend an oncology appointment, where she intended to schedule her radiation treatments. However, on August 2, prior to the appointment, the company terminated her, citing poor work performance. 

According to the administrator, the director told her at their August 2 meeting: “I know that you've been through a lot, your work is slipping, … and you still have a lot to go through so for that fact, we're going to have to let you go.” 

Based on his conversations with the director, the general manager of the facility terminated the administrator. 

The administrator sued, alleging that the company failed to provide her a reasonable accommodation under the ADA. 

The court explained that under the ADA, it is unlawful for an employer to fail to accommodate the known limitations of an employee's disability. 

Could the administrator proceed with reasonable accommodation claim? 

A. No. She never requested an accommodation prior to her termination; therefore, the company did not fail to accommodate her. 

B. Yes. Her intention to continue working, but with accommodations, and the timing of her firing suggested the company prevented the initiation of the interactive process. 

If you picked B, you agreed with the court in Babin v. The Lofton Corp., No. 20-00754-BAJ-SDJ (D. La. 06/29/22), which held that the, because the company fired the administrator on the morning of her appointment, it would be inappropriate to grant the company summary judgment. 

The court observed that an employer may not stymie the interactive process of identifying a reasonable accommodation for an employee's disability by preemptively terminating the employee before an accommodation can be considered or recommended. Here, the court stated, two factors weighed in favor of denying summary judgment: