Does no good deed go unpunished?

We are an American Company, we have an employee, Stephanie, who is a nurse at one of our hospitals. Her rotating shift is an essential function of her job. Because it's so difficult to find nurses who are willing to work the night shift, the only way the hospital can support the shift is by requiring them to rotate. For the last eight weeks, however, we have allowed Stephanie to work a straight day shift.

We did that because her doctor reported that she was experiencing fatigue-induced seizures. Her doctor anticipated that if she just worked a straight day shift for a few weeks, she should be able to get the necessary rest to overcome her medical situation.

I approached Stephanie today about changing back to the rotating shift. She told me that she believes her seizures are an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) disability and the fact that she has been able to work a straight shift for the last eight weeks demonstrates that the rotating shift isn't an essential function of her job. Is she right?


Many courts that have addressed this issue have refused to punish employers for being more generous, or more accommodating, than the ADA would otherwise require. Assuming the rotating shift is indeed an essential job function, you could have refused to change her shift from the very beginning and instead placed her on an unpaid leave of absence as an accommodation.

The fact that you went out of your way to help her continue working — by letting her out of an essential function on a temporary basis — shouldn't affect the fact that the function is still essential.

On the other hand, some courts have also indicated that allowing an employee to avoid performing an essential job function can undermine the argument that the function was essential to begin with. In such a case, the employer could be required to allow the employee to continue working on a permanent basis without performing the essential job duty at issue.

In short, this is a highly fact-intensive inquiry, and no employer wants to be the test case to see whether this good deed will be punished. So before you excuse someone from an essential function of her job, you should consult with your employment attorney. In dealing with Stephanie, you could take the position that the rotating shift is (and always was) an essential function, but there is some risk that a court may disagree.

Maikel Nabih Abdel – Malik

Address: 205 El Teraa El Bolaqia St., Shubra, Cairo, Egypt.
Postal Code: 11241, Cairo.
Email Address: maikelnabih@yahoo.com
Phone Number: +(0202) 22312196
Fax Number: +(0202) 22312196

Personal Information:
 Marital status: Single.
 Gender: Male.
 Nationality: Egyptian.
 Date of Birth: 25 May 1982.
 Place of Birth: Cairo.
 Military status: Exempted.

Career Objective:
 Position Sought: IT Assistant - IT Specialist (Computer & Information Systems).
 Seeking a challenging position in well-established known company where my professional and skills can be improved and fully utilized with the ability to update myself continuously according to the company’s requirements and Qualifications and to be more professional.

Education:
Date Attended: 4 Years.
University: Integrated Thebes Academy for Science.
Faculty: Higher Thebes's Institute for Management and Information Technology.
Equivalent From Supreme Council of Universities to "Management Information Systems (MIS)".
Graduation Date : 2003.
Equivalent Date : 2005.
Section : English Section.
Graduation Grade : Pass.
GPA : 1.85 on a Scale of 4 Points.
Giza, Egypt.
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science.
Major: Computer & Information Systems.
Business Administration - Faculty of Commerce.

Graduation Projects:
FIRST: Design & Built a Database and Forms By V.Basic 6.0 General Grade EXCELLENT.

SECOND: Design & Built a Website and Links With a DB General Grade EXCELLENT.

Languages:
Arabic : Mother Tongue.
English : Very Good.
French : Fair.

Summary of qualifications:
Computer Skills:
 Windows : Excellent.
 Word : Excellent.
 Front Page : V.Good.
 Internet : V.Good.
 Flash MX : V.Good.
 PowerPoint : Good.
 Excel : Good.
 Access : Good.
 Typing : 25 – 30 WPM.
 Others : Excellent Knowledge PCs Applications.
 Computer Maintenance : Hardware and Software.

Programming Skills:
 Visual Basic 6.0 : V.Good.
 C ++ : V.Good.
 HTML : Good.

Personal Skills:
 Creative, self motivated, reliable, dynamic and hard working.
 Good at meeting deadlines.
 Ability to work individually and as an effective team Member.
 Ability to work effectively under pressure.
 Ability to learn new tasks quickly.
 Conducted meeting and work discussions.
 Professional appearance and high professional standard.
 Good communication skills.
 Did not filling poor in work.

Training Courses:
 From: 01/10/2002 to 30/10/2002.
 Course Name: Visual Basic 6.0.
 Grade: V.Good.
 Name of Training: Institute Hady Center for Computers & Education.

Experiences:
 V.Basic 6.0. Programming.
 C ++.
 HTML.
 Microsoft Windows.
 Microsoft Office.
 Internet Navigation.
 Computer Maintenance.
 Data Entry.
 Flash MX.

Work Experience:
 From: 01/02/2004 to 01/05/2007.
 Company Name: Merit Company for Supplies and Trading.
 Position: IT Assistant.
 Work Field: Information Technology.
 Job Role/Responsibility: Technical Support and Helpdesk Officer in Information Technology Department.
 Total Years of Experience: Three Years Experience.
 Last Monthly Salary: 500 L.E

Target Job:
 Job Location: Egypt Only.
 Career Level: Over Three Years Experience.
 Industry: Computer/Hardware; Computer/Software; Human Resources; Information Technology; Technical Support/Helpdesk Officer; Internet/E-commerce; Administration; Secretarial; Computer Maintenance.
 Employment Status: Full time.
 Notice Period to Work: Immediately.

Name: Maikel Nabih Abdel – Malik.
Phone: +(0202) 22312196