A recent case calls attention to this question, of interest to all employers.
In the case of Aptaker v. Bucks County Intermediate Unit, No. 14-225 (E.D.Pa. 2015), a special education teacher filed suit after she was fired asserting a claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Following the teacher’s disclosure to her employer that she suffered from depression, she “was subjected to performance reviews, an aggressive Corrective Action Plan, unsatisfactory evaluations, and ultimately termination.”
The intermediate unit responded to the allegations of disability discrimination by explaining that the employee was terminated due to performance issues, although the employee received satisfactory reviews prior to disclosing her depression. The court looked to a number of factors to determine if the employee’s termination was due to her disability or poor performance and determined that this was a fact issue for the jury to decide.
The court noted, although neither party raised the issue, “the possibility that [employee’s] performance issues correlate with her symptoms of her depression.” Specifically the court noted that the employee indicated that symptoms of her depression included difficulty concentrating, thinking and sleeping, that she often became distracted and scattered, and she “had difficulties processing new information, and remembering things.”
The court concluded that “[i]t is reasonable to infer that these symptoms may have, in part, been the reason that [employee] failed to turn in lesson plans and IEP progress reports on time, or failed to complete lesson plans to the specifications of her new supervisors.” From this, the court concluded that a jury could look at these facts and find that this poor performance was a manifestation of the employee’s depression and if so, would be an improper reason to terminate the employee.
As a result, when employers are looking at performance issues with an employee, they are well advised to look at whether what appears to be a subjective decline in performance might be attributable to a symptom of employee’s asserted disabilities.
The Eastern Pennsylvania Employment Log (EPELog) is a publication of the KingSpry Employment Law Practice Group. Jeffrey T. Tucker, Esquire, is our editor-in-chief. EPELog is meant to be informational and does not constitute legal advice.
