Medical Leave Termination

[beastedy]

State of Wisconsin
My mom recently lost the ability in her legs and can no longer walk so she has been on medical leave for a couple months. They sent her a letter with three options.
Option 1 was they will extend her leave of abscense until June 24 allowing her time to pursue her benefits and then she would have to resign on June 24.
Option 2 was she resigns anytime before June 24.
Option 3 was they will extend her Leave of Abscense until June 3. If she cannot return on June 5, they will pursue Fitness for Duty Medical Seperation under Wisconsin State Statue 230.37. It then says the target medical separation is June 24.

My mom works at the DOT and has a desk job. She is mentally fine and physically I think she is capable of doing her job. One issue is her wheelchair does not even fit in their bathroom even though it's "wheelchair accessible." Is what they are doing lawful? What can we do about this? Government insurance is really helping and we don't want to lose that benefit. Any tips?

 

[cbg]

Quite possibly they can. On June 24th, will she have been out more than, or less than, 12 weeks?

How much beyond June 24th does her doctor anticipate her needing to be out on medical leave?

The answers to these questions will go a long way to determining if this is legal or not. But I warn you, based on what you've posted the odds are that it is.

 

[beastedy]

Yes more than 12 weeks and I'm not sure about the other question, but my moms Doctor is nice and always on our side if that helps.

 

[cbg]

Whether the doctor is nice and on your side does not affect the legality of the situation, I'm afraid.

There are two potential laws in play. Based on your answer to the first question, you're out of luck. Under the first potential law, it is unquestionably legal for them to let her go as of June 24th.

So the question of how long the doctor anticipates her needing to be out beyond June 24th is going to be of primary importance. Do you have any sense of it at all? Are we talking a matter of days, weeks, months?

 

[commentator]

"Lost the ability in her legs" sounds pretty serious. Is this apt to be a progressive condition? It sounds like they do not want to consider the option of letting her come back to work with some options. She needs a long hard discussion with her doctor. It might be better for her to remain off work and begin the process of filing for social security disability

 

[beastedy]

I'm afraid that her condition will take at least a couple months. As with progressiveness, nothing will get worse so she won't end up losing her arms function or something.

 

[cbg]

The only legal issue that might help her is a law called the Americans with Disabilities Act. Under that law, if she self-identifies as disabled as defined by that law (and from what you've posted I don't think there's any question that she meets the definition) and requests a reasonable accommodation, the employer is required to determine whether such an accommodation exists that would allow her to continue working. Note that the accommodation must be reasonable, and there is a great deal of wiggle room in the definition of reasonable. In some instances, a SHORT extension of her leave *might* be considered reasonable, but then you start getting into the definition of "short". An attorney I used to work with once defined it as six weeks or less, but the law itself does not define short. Then, of course, it stands to reason that if an extension to the leave is granted, at the end of that extension she must be able to return to work and complete all the essential functions of her position. There are no circumstances where dropping an essential function is considered reasonable.

If no reasonable accommodation can be found, then she can be let go and it is entirely legal. And, unlike FMLA, the responsibility is hers to invoke the ADA. The employer IS entitled to medical verification of her disability. What they may want to do, and they are legally entitled to do this, is send a list of her essential duties to her doctor and ask his opinion on their viability.

She needs to talk to her doctor, who should be familiar with the ADA, and ask him how long he anticipates her being out and if an ADA accommodation would help her. She should do this before she approaches her employer.