Disability must be the only answer

It is a common enough situation: An employee who has never asserted a disability is acting or speaking inappropriately or oddly or being aggressive or noncompliant, and a supervisor surmises that a mental health disability may be at play. Is a discharge based on those inappropriate behaviors at risk for being discriminatory? Once you observe behavior that could reflect a disability, must you open an interactive dialogue or propose an accommodation? The California Court of Appeal provides a clear, employer-friendly answer. 

Bizarre behavior leads to termination 

In October 2020, Target Corporation hired Daniel Husband to work as a fulfillment expert in its store in Burbank, California. Although the new hire materials that Husband received explained Target would attempt to accommodate any “known physical or mental limitation(s)” of its employees, Husband did not, at any time, inform any Target official that he had been diagnosed with bipolar I disorder. 

On June 9, 2022, Husband entered the store where he worked while off duty to purchase items as a customer. While there, Husband became visibly upset with a Target employee. The employee said Husband also “used profanity,” but Husband denied the use of such words. Husband was soon thereafter verbally counseled by a supervisor about the incident, and a written counseling memo was subsequently issued on July 11, 2022.