Plant Services - July 2008 - (Page 52)

IN THE TRENCHES The scenario presented here is based on a true story; only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. How Qualified Do You Need to Be? Acme learns the value of having two good hands A cme’s corporate culture revered a well-entrenched policy of filling vacant positions with the most qualified applicant. The thinking was that the company gets the absolute best help money can buy. Joe Hannusberg worked for Acme in its distribution center, essentially a warehouse, where he walked the aisles filling orders by picking items from bins to load something akin to a shopping cart. Most of the items detailed on Joe’s pick list were relatively small, which could be grabbed one-handed while walking past the bin. Others, however, are definitely “twohanders” because they weighed as much as 25 pounds. Last Memorial Day, at a city-wide picnic, Joe was sitting just behind the baseline at a pickup baseball game. The crack of a bat resulted in a cracked and broken bat, the loose, raw, broken end of which arced into the stands and impaled his left arm. The resultant nerve damage rendered his arm permanently disabled and, for all practical purposes, functionally useless. After his rehab, Joe returned to find that the injury made performing the duties of order filler impossible. It wasn’t a problem to pick small parts with one good hand. But, Joe dropped a few larger items, one of which broke upon impact. Embarrassed, he faced the fact that continuing in this job was out of the question. From that point forward, Joe took extra care, which slowed his pick rate quite a bit. After coming to terms with the disability, Joe requested a transfer to an equivalent vacant position at Acme. At the time, there was an open slot for a router, and an office job, the main tools of which were a computer and mouse. The router position had already been vacant for a few months. Ellie Fantiere, Joe’s supervisor, urged him to apply because she felt that Joe was perfectly qualified for that job and she knew that Acme realized that it needed to fill the vacancy soon. Ellie convinced Joe that it was a position in which a person of limited dexterity could excel. The job paid only slightly less than what order fillers were being paid. Joe applied for the job, but Acme didn’t immediately assign him to fill the slot. The explanation was that the company hadn’t yet gone through the vetting process to select the best candidate. As a result, Joe was obliged to put his name in the hat along with others, both current employees and outside candidates, who had already applied for the position. Acme interviewed the candidates for the router position during the next two weeks. Later, Joe received a letter from Acme’s HR department that said although Acme felt he was qualified for the position, the company selected an able-bodied, non-disabled person. The letter also reassigned Joe to a position as an associate in the janitorial department, which paid about half of what he earned as an order filler. Joe had no other viable option and accepted the transfer. He struggled with his new duties as best he could, but also filed a lawsuit, arguing that giving him the router job would have been the ideal, reasonable accommodation expected of every employer. By doing otherwise, Acme has proven that it discriminates against the handicapped. Acme argued that there’s not a trace of discriminatory practice in the longlived corporate practice of filling an open position with the best-qualified person. As a consequence, Acme said it had no obligation to assign Joe to the router position. How could this situation have been avoided? Can “best qualified” trump accommodation? Is it discriminatory to select only the best candidates? Is it sufficient accommodation merely to allow a handicapped employee to compete for a job? Is it discriminatory to give a person a job based only on membership in a protected group? Is the janitorial position at half the pay a “reasonable accommodation?” Is there another way that Acme could have worked with Joe to find him a position within the company with pay comparable to his previous order-picker position? What do Acme’s actions say about the company’s loyalty to its employees? An attorney says: Acme might have had an obligation to assign Joe to the router position if he could perform its essential funcJuly 2008 52 www.PLANTSERVICES.com http://www.PLANTSERVICES.com

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Plant Services - July 2008

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