An employee was hired as a service technician by a telecommunications company to

Question

An employee was hired as a service technician by a telecommunications company to perform unsupervised in-home installations and repairs. On his application, he indicated that he had never been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor. It was discovered in a criminal background check conducted about three months later that the man had been arrested in 1982 for attempted murder and found not guilty by reason of insanity. He had been committed to a state psychiatric hospital for two and a half years and spent an additional six months in another mental health facility. Although the man’s immediate supervisor recommended that he be retained because he had been performing well, he was terminated. The reason given for the termination was that he had falsified his application. However, comments were also made by various managers that the man had an “emotional dysfunction” that might cause him to engage in this type of behavior on the job; that he might “go off ” on a customer; and that because of the time he had spent in a “mental ward,” the company could not risk retaining him. The terminated employee sued. What should the court decide? Why?

Explanation / Answer

The court should rule in favor of the plaintiff (the employee) on his disability discrimination claim under the ADA and state law. Due to his history of mental illness, the employee was regarded as disabled by his employer. Based on the evidence of successful job performance as well as on the lack of any substantial evidence that he posed a direct threat to the health and safety of others, the employee was deemed to also be “qualified.” The statements of the managers provided strong evidence that the man’s history of mental illness, and their beliefs about the nature of his condition, influenced the decision to not retain him.

The employer would not have made the decisions it did based simply on falsification of an application. The court should make a note that employer can take steps to avoid negligent hiring by screening out unfit employees with a propensity to harm others, but it must do so based on facts rather than stereotypes.  

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