When can you terminate employees who can’t perform essential functions?

Q           We have an employee who returned from medical leave but is still unable to perform the job’s essential functions. We’ve worked with the employee and provided additional accommodations, but the employee continues to struggle. If no further accommodations exist that would enable the employee to perform the essential functions without imposing undue hardship, would we risk running afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by proceeding with a separation?

Typically, an employee must be able to perform a job’s essential functions with or without reasonable accommodation, and employers aren’t required to grant accommodations that eliminate such functions or impose an undue hardship. So, an employer is generally not required to continue to employ a worker who can’t perform the essential functions of the job with reasonable accommodations.

To defend against a possible disability discrimination or retaliation claim, you should make sure your efforts at reasonable accommodation—i.e., the “interactive process”—are well-documented. Possible reasonable accommodations might include transferring the employee to a vacant position the employee is qualified for or a change in schedule or nonessential tasks. If the interactive process has been exhausted and no reasonable accommodations have been found, then it’s appropriate to move forward with a separation.