Case Study - Accommodating a Disability

John was hired on January 15, 1997. He has been working the night shift throughout the past

10 years. John has had a troubled history with the organization. The employee has been

disciplined on a few occasions (mostly for insubordinate behaviour and inappropriate

comments to coworkers) and has in turn filed a number of grievances against the supervisor

and various co-workers. Some grievances have been settled quietly and others have been

dismissed once the union and management have reviewed and discussed.

Given the various grievances that John has filed against coworkers, one (1) particular co-worker

(Mac) filed a harassment complaint against John in 2004 citing that John continually picks on

him and the behaviour is unwanted (this is all in addition to four (4) grievances filed that were

all dismissed). Needless to say, John does not have any friends at work. He is a loner and does

not participate in any group activity or staff events outside of work. Some workers (especially

new hires) have tried to befriend him, with no luck. The supervisor (Brent) believes that John

may have an undisclosed mental health problem.

Upon returning from the Christmas holidays this year, John approached his supervisor and says

that his doctor has advised him to take eight (8) of paid sick leave to recover from "stress and

burnout". The employee hands his supervisor a doctor's note to confirm this advice, and

explains that he needs to be away from work starting right away.

Brent notes to himself that John has made no secret that he would prefer to transfer from his

current night shift to a day shift or to a different location, but he doesn't have the seniority to

successfully apply for any of these positions. With this new request for leave, Brent is

concerned that John and the doctor randomly requested a lengthy absence.

Nonetheless, since John presented a valid doctor's note, the supervisor grants the employee's

request. Brent schedules the start and end dates of the sick leave in the employee database.

Three days before he is supposed to return to work, John delivers another doctor's note saying

it's his recommendation that John be transferred to the day shift immediately.

Brent is frustrated and approaches you - a consultant with MCHR Consulting (an external

company that is often engaged to assist with difficult cases). He recounts John's history and

asks you to advise him on what his next steps are. He also asks as a further option, what can be done about terminating John for good? For your assignment as the Consultant to Brent, please prepare a written response advising

Brent of (1) your assessment of John's accommodation request and (2) can he terminate John

- if so how, if not, why not?

Your written response should be structured in paragraph format. Your response to each

question may be around at least 500 words or more. What's important is that your response

appropriately answers the question to provide sufficient advice to Brent.