Safety Assessment or ADA Medical Examination?

A hearing-impaired FedEx employee was assigned to work as a freight handler at Kennedy Airport in New York for several years.  He operated machinery to load and unload heavyweight freight to and from the aircraft.  Over a course of time, the employee committed several safety violations and as a result, FedEx managers required the employee to participate in a field safety assessment under actual working conditions (on the tarmac with airplane engines running).  The purpose was to evaluate the employee’s ability to hear co-workers under actual working conditions.  The results were inconclusive.  The employee declined to participate in further field assessments.  At the employee’s attorney’s request, FedEx transferred the employee to a position that did not involve the operating of heavy machinery.  The employee retained his title, wage and benefits.  Despite these facts, the employee sued FedEx in New York Federal District Court, alleging that FedEx discriminated against him because of his disability and that he was disadvantaged in his new job because it required more physical exertion than his former position. 

Employers should be aware that pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act, they may not require an employee to submit to a medical examination or ask about an employee’s disability unless the examination is job related and consistent with a business necessity.  In this instance the court found that the field tests were safety tests and not subject to the ADA’s restrictions.  The court concluded that FedEx had a reasonable basis for requiring the employee to demonstrate his ability to operate heavy machinery safely in the airport environment, especially given observations by supervisors of safety violations that could be reasonably related to the employee's disability.  Read the opinion here.

Bottom Line:  It may be permissible for an employer to require an employee to demonstrate his or her ability to perform aspects of  his or her job, especially when there have been observations that call the employee's ability into question.  


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