FMLA and ADA

[MeAgain...]

Hi, All.

I am confused about the FMLA form and ADA.

The FMLA employee form states:

"An employee who must be absent from work to receive medical treatment(s), such as scheduled medical visits, for a serious health condition is considered to be not able to perform the essential job functions of the position during the absence for treatment(s)."

Yet ADA states "An individual with a disability must also be qualified to perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation, in order to be protected by the ADA."

If I fill out an FMLA form that states that I am unable to perform the essential functions of my job due to needed appointments or reduced schedule, how can I keep that position and be covered by the ADA??? How does a reduced schedule accommodation fit into ADA when FMLA says that you can't perform the essential functions of your job? By law FMLA must be applied for ongoing medical absences.

Has anyone dealt with this particular conflict before? It has come up where I work.

Thanks

Meg

[Pistol]

@MeAgain... from reading what you quoted it means that IF you are deemed disabled you must be able to perform the duties you were hired for in order for your employer to be required to accommodate any adjustments. If eight hour shift are required at the time of hiring and you can no longer perform eight hour shifts then it would be possible for the employer to say that if you cannot work the hours you are no longer able to perform the duties outlined in your job description. In that case they could fire you. 

In my case I had to bring a doctor's note saying I am not able to work the shift I was hired for in order to be able to claim FMLA for the missed hours. This did not create a problem for my employer and they could easily do that. But lets say I would be working at the counter in a store for certain hours and if I was not there then they had to close the store they have the right to deny this request for FMLA. 

FMLA is there to protect BOTH - the employee and the employer. 

[MeAgain...]

I can see in the example you site where that would be the case. I can also see in a situation like a production line where if one person isn't there the whole line stops. In my case there are other people who do the same job who work part time and only work 3 days per week. I have never seen the job description, but if they are allowing part-time for other workers can they deny it for me based on "job description"?