Have you ever hired an unbalanced employee?

How do employers sleep at night knowing they may have hired--or already have working on their floor--an unbalanced employee plotting revenge? 

Three emails - two blogs and an article -  arrived this morning that addressed the employer's dilemma in dealing with workforce jerks and workplace violence.  All three are worth reading.  I've included the links below.

The Workforce Management article summarizes it best:

"The simple truth is that the same questions required to weed out mentally disturbed gun purchasers ("Do you have a diagnosed mental illness regardless of whether you are receiving treatment?") cannot be asked of a person applying for a job operating a rivet gun or driving schoolchildren on a bus without violating the Americans With Disabilities Act. Savvy employers know that under the ADA, employers may ask only if the applicant is able to perform the essential functions of the job with or without a reasonable accommodation."

That leads to two questions asked on the PA Employment Law Blog and the position the EEOC takes on distinguishing between perception and conduction in its Enforcement Guidance for Individuals with Psychiatric Disabilities :

34. When can an employer refuse to hire someone based on his/her history of violence or threats of violence?

An employer may refuse to hire someone based on his/her history of violence or threats of violence if it can show that the individual poses a direct threat. A determination of "direct threat" must be based on an individualized assessment of the individual's present ability to safely perform the functions of the job, considering the most current medical knowledge and/or the best available objective evidence. To find that an individual with a psychiatric disability poses a direct threat, the employer must identify the specific behavior on the part of the individual that would pose the direct threat. This includes an assessment of the likelihood and imminence of future violence.

30. May an employer discipline an individual with a disability for violating a workplace conduct standard if the misconduct resulted from a disability?

Yes, provided that the workplace conduct standard is job-related for the position in question and is consistent with business necessity. For example, nothing in the ADA prevents an employer from maintaining a workplace free of violence or threats of violence, or from disciplining an employee who steals or destroys property. Thus, an employer may discipline an employee with a disability for engaging in such misconduct if it would impose the same discipline on an employee without a disability. Other conduct standards, however, may not be job-related for the position in question and consistent with business necessity. If they are not, imposing discipline under them could violate the ADA.

The third posting dealt with bully managers. Don't Tolerate Crazy Bosses - worth reading, too.

Comments

[SamanthaAPlusBenefits]

I recently wrote a blog about this first topic called Dealing with Problem Employees.

http://outerblog.com/A+/?p=49

Some ways employers can protect themselves from difficult employees are to know the HR laws that affect their business, have a written employee handbook outlining appropriate employee behavior, keep up to date written records of employee discipline, and finally be proactive and try to prevent small problems from becoming catastrophic ones.