I need help with a legal discussion question, what does the law say about this?(you gotta be smart to answer)?

shelcom

Suzy is right...you are looking for free homework help. So...if you need to be smart to answer the question and YOU can't answer it...well....

Suzy

Sounds like you are looking for free help with your homework.

Emily

1) I assume he has a contract. What does his contract say about termination?
2) If he belongs to a union, they will be able to assist him.
3) How many sick leave days did he have available? He cannot ask for sick leave beyond what he is entitled to. If the district treats him differently, they will be setting a precedent and thus leave themselves open for other employees to ask for similar demands.
4) If he is disabled he should apply for disability with the State or his union or file a short-term and then a long-term disability insurance claim.
5) Ethical questions around the case should be considered after his legal entitlement to his claims have been established. Also for consideration: his age and length of employment in the district. Employers offer disability insurance to safeguard themselves against this type of liability. If the employee is too sick to work, then ethically he is disabled and should seek to remedy his situation by filing the appropriate claims instead of asking the district to settle his situation on his terms.

vdpphd

The ethical values include Oneal's obligation to the school district to try to fulfill his contract, the school district's obligation to assist Oneal to some degree despite his illness, and the limitation on Oneal's teaching ability due to his increasing blindness. The school district must, for the sake of the education of the students, have a teacher in their classroom who can do the job. Is it right for them to pay Oneal while sick, and pay a substitute at the same time, and to replace Oneal on their payroll only when his sick time is used up? The school district is choosing to regard Oneal's inability to continue as "breach of contract." Oneal's condition is actually "incapacity", the inability (not the unwillingness) to continue to perform his job. While an employer does not have to keep an incapacitated person on the payroll indefinitely, most states require employers to provide a short-term disability period during which an incapacitated employee gets paid while sick, until sick leave and short-term disability entitlements are exhausted. The legal question is whether diabetic blindness constitutes an incapacitating medical disability, under which Oneal is entitled to some leave with pay (and a state or federal disability pension, or both), or a breach of Oneal's contract justifying his immediate termination. Statutes covering this situation vary by state - go look them up in the law library. By the way, were Oneal a paraplegic, it would clearly be illegal (Federal Americans with Disabilities Act) to fire him for losing the use of his legs. It thus may also be illegal to fire him for losing his sight.

Mel

You have a number of different issues involved here - accommodation for a disabled employee under the ADA; potential wrongful termination (your synopsis did not include a statement to the effect that the employee's performance had deteriorated, just the eyesight); potential age discrimination (did the district want to put this employee out to pasture rather than allow him/her to collect retirement?)

There are also company policy and precedent issues involved - what was the district's policy on the accrual and use of sick time, for example? Was O'Neal requesting payment for time to which s/he would have been entitled anyway? Had other employees in similar situations been permitted to receive a payout of sick days?

From an ethical standpoint, is the company right to add insult to injury by firing an employee who is disabled rather than giving him/her an opportunity to exit gracefully? What is the message being sent to the other school district employees - if you get sick, we'll find a way to fire you, too? On the flip side, is the employee right to request a cash settlement for what is essentially a personal health issue? If there were performance issues involved, is the employee simply trying to scam a settlement in lieu of being fired?

More discussion than you bargained for, I'm sure. Do I pass the "smart" threshhold? :)

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