Supreme court to hear recovered drug addict ADA issue
October 9, 2003Findlaw (Christian Science Monitor) reports: “Limits of disability act tested”
“Would a company that refuses to rehire somebody who says he’s overcome his drug and alcohol addiction be guilty of violating the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)?”
“That is the question the US Supreme Court takes up Wednesday in an Arizona case involving Hughes Missile Systems Company in Tucson with major implications for companies with zero-tolerance hiring and firing policies.”
An employee tested positive for cocaine and resigned in lieu of being fired. Two and a half years later, he applied for another job at the company after completing a rehabilitation program.
The company refused to consider him for hiring, under an unwritten policy of refusing to rehire anyone fired for misconduct. He was treated the same as any other employee who had used drugs, company lawyers say.
He says the company’s refusal to hire him is discrimination based on his past addiction in violation of the ADA.
A federal court judge dismissed the case. A federal appeals-court reversed.
The article nicely lays out the positions taken by the employee, employer, and government as amicus.
Recovered addicts, but not current users, are protected under the ADA. If the Court goes with the ADA’s intent, it seems the employee wins. But the employer’s argument that it has a neutral across-the-board disciplinary policy has some appeal too.
I think the government’s argument will tip the scale in favor of the employer. It says a ruling in favor of the employee “would undercut the effectiveness of workplace conduct rules, ‘which represent a legitimate effort by employers to promote workplace safety and productivity.’ ”
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