Rosen Law Office

A police dispatcher, who was depressed and anxious, asked for intermittent leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.  The city responded by making her submit to a medical examination to see if she was fit for duty.  The doctor said she was not, and the city fired her.  She sued, claiming the city had discriminated against her as a disabled person and had violated the FMLA.

The Eighth Circuit dismissed her case, noting that a police dispatcher has to act quickly and calmly in emergencies and be able to get accurate and complete information from callers who may be frantic and incoherent.  Employers are permitted “to use reasonable means to ascertain the cause of troubling behavior without exposing themselves to ADA claims,” said the court, and fitness-for-duty examinations are considered a reasonable means of making this determination.

The dispatcher had admitted that she was suffering from a serious health condition that rendered her unable to perform the essential functions of her job.  “The FMLA does not provide … a right to unscheduled and unpredictable, but cumulatively substantial, absences or a right to take unscheduled leave at a moment’s notice for the rest of her career. On the contrary, such a situation implies that she is not qualified for a position where reliable attendance is a bona fide requirement.”

This doesn’t mean that employers can demand a  fitness-for-duty examination every time someone asks for time off.  There has to be a good reason to question whether the employee can perform the essential functions of her job.