Discrimination and the Disabled

[arisbe]

On July 8, Doug Williams, a 48-year-old assembly-line worker at the Lockheed Martin plant in Meridian, Mississippi, walked out of a meeting with managers on how to get along with fellow employees -- just the sort of meeting encouraged by federal law to assure that everyone appreciates the merit of diversity and that no one is being harassed in the workplace. Minutes later, he returned with shotgun and a rifle. He shot two people in the room and three more on the factory floor. Then, he killed himself.

...

So let's say an employer suspects he has a nutcase working at the factory. Once all the bureaucratic hurdles have been cleared, can the employer fire the guy? Not yet. The employer must first make "reasonable accommodation." "For example, room dividers, partitions, or other soundproofing or visual barriers between workspaces may accommodate individuals who have disability-related limitations in concentration." What is reasonable accommodation? The courts are still working on that. They'll get back to you in a few years. Or maybe never.

from How Government Protects Potential Workplace Killers

By Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

Comments

[prester-scott.livejournal.com]

What is reasonable accommodation [for a potential workplace shooter]?

Cubicle walls that constitute hard cover, plus letting everyone carry firearms and wear body armor. That'd be a good start.

Good

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't mind turning this very cube into a heavily fortified bunker. I'm worried about the woman in the next cube. And not only because she's my manager.

[vyoma.livejournal.com]

Lockheed could've dumped this guy in a second if their management had bothered to follow up on numerous racist statements he'd made over the years. From what I've heard about this situation in interviews with his former co-workers on NPR, he was well-known for making blacks and women feel uncomfortable and, to quote one interviewee, "threatened."

Maybe they could've gone the harassment route instead of the disability route in shoving this guy out the door.

Harassment

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

But if the harassing behavior was shown to result from a psychiatric disorder?

Re: Harassment

[vyoma.livejournal.com]

Was it so demonstrated? I'm not aware of any particular psychological disorder that has "race-based threats" as a symptom, although I think racism is itself a form of mental illness. As far as I know, DSM-IV disagrees with me on that point so far.

As far as psychological maladies go in general, however, an employer can remove an employee from the workplace if the nature of the disorder is such that it causes problems with other employees. The employee would be covered by disability insurance, and while he/she might not be fired for it, they could certainly be put on an indeterminate sick-leave.

[supergee.livejournal.com]

The public schools are being instructed to make accommodation for students with Oppositional Defiant Disorder. The presenting symptom in one case was bringing guns and ammo to school.

Wonderful!

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

Of course the schools are required to serve everyone. Why must a business be required to hire everyone?

[fitts.livejournal.com]

This sort of Federal imbecility is exactly what a Republican Congress should be eliminating. OPne wonders what the good of voting for the GOP is.

[luxcanon.livejournal.com]

Is One just now getting around to wondering that?

Another wonders what One has been paying attention to all this time.

[fitts.livejournal.com]

By God, you are a wit!
How pleased with yourself you must be!

[luxcanon.livejournal.com]

By God, you are a wit!

Well! You're half right, anyway.

[fitts.livejournal.com]

Very graciously done, Sir.

Cheers!

[luxcanon.livejournal.com]

Here's to fleeting moments of lucidity.