Manager’s impatience collides with ADA: A case study

Managers have demanding jobs. They report to execs who want results. They oversee human beings who experience life challenges and who are always protected by employment laws. For an illustration of a collision between an employer and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), read on.

Struck by a car

Lynn LaFiandra worked as a consultant for high-powered consulting firm Accenture. In 2015, while using a crosswalk, she was hit by a car and suffered a concussion.

As a result, LaFiandra experienced difficulty thinking in abstract terms and typing. She suffered from debilitating headaches. To accommodate her injuries, her billing requirements (the amount of work she was required to perform) were cut in half, and she was allowed to work on a part-time schedule.

In January 2017, LaFiandra was permitted by her doctor to return to full-time work but with limited screen time in front of a computer. She asked to maintain a reduced billing requirement.

Enter Accenture’s Global Managing Director Francis Hintermann, LaFiandra’s boss who approved the new arrangement but only if there was “a timeline and an end to it in the foreseeable future.” He noted that her accommodations “[could not] be permanent.”

And so it was: Her accommodation was decreed to end on April 30, 2017.

Well, that date came and went, but no one told LaFiandra that the accommodation was over.