We had an employee who went out on leave for a knee replacement recovery. He originally told us he would need 6 months off to recover (the job he is in is a physical, in the field position), and my boss (VP of HR) basically said we will approve him for 12 weeks of FMLA and then a 4 week personal leave of absence (unprotected company leave).
I reminded our VP that this employee’s leave would be coming to an end soon and she advised that I call him and let him know that if he can’t come back upon conclusion of the personal leave of absence, we will have to terminate him, but he could reach out once he is recovered, and we would basically hire him back.
When I asked her about leave as an accommodation (I’m still on the new side to this area and have very little to no accommodation experience), she shut me down and said “there are no accommodations for this position.” And then went on to say something like the step stool she uses to rest her feet on at her desk is an accommodation. I told her I thought we had to have the interactive process at least and she instantly shut me down again.
This employee (also has been with the company for 20 years), was upset and even though we told him we would hire him back, was still obviously scared about losing his job. He was able to get a doctor’s note clearing him to come back, but after being back for a couple of weeks, he ended up going to the emergency room for problems with his knee. I am worried that he pushed his doctor to clear him before he was fully recovered because he was scared of losing his job, and now he is putting his body at risk.
I am frustrated that we did not just allow him to have an additional couple of months of leave as an accommodation. I don’t feel like my boss always does things the right and compliant way, which concerns me, and I don’t have a ton of experience in this area yet, so I am curious, how would you have handled this situation? She also made the argument that extending his leave would set a precedent, which I didn’t think was the case for accommodations since they are individualized. Can anyone confirm?