LEGISLATIVE NEWS


Discharging An Employee For Threats Or Violence Is Not Unlawful Disability Discrimination Even When The Employee's Actions Are Caused By A Disability


The California Court of Appeal upheld summary adjudication against a claim of disability discriminationin Wills v. Superior Court of Orange County. Using sound reasoning the court concluded that an employer may discipline an employee for


engaging in workplace misconduct, such as threats against coworkers, even when that behavior is caused by the employee’s disability.


Linda Wills was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1997. She began working for the Orange County Superior Court in 1999. The Court of Appeal acknowledged there was no dispute that bipolar disorder caused the behavior cited in Wills’s termination notice, and that her employer learned about the disability before making the discharge decision. The primary issue on appeal was how the FEHA treats disability-caused misconduct. Acknowledging a line of Ninth Circuit authority that equates disability-caused misconduct with the disability itself, the court rejected plaintiff’s argument that her misconduct must be considered as part of her disability. The court further explained that threats or violence in the workplace stemming from a disability present a unique situation where the employer is placed on a “razor’s edge” – in jeopardy of violating the FEHA or ADA if it took adverse action against the employee, yet in jeopardy of being deemed negligent if it retained the employee and he or she caused harm to a coworker. “If employers are not permitted to make this distinction,” the court concluded, “they are caught on the horns of a dilemma.”


To read more click here


3


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11