Workers’ Compensation and Labor Law
REDEVELOPMENT
Mini Case Study: ADA, FMLA and Workers’ Comp Interplay
Instructions: Read and reflect on the hypothetical scenario below. Draft a complete and concise response to the two prompts that follow the scenario.
Hypothetical Scenario
Joe Dokes is ordinarily a field lawn and landscape technician for Git-R-Done Lawn Service, LLC. For the last five months, however, he has been working in the office on a light duty assignment that is related to an injury he sustained when he flipped a commercial-grade, zero-turn-radius lawnmower. Joe’s physician has indicated he has a permanent, 15% whole-person impairment rating, and his permanent restrictions will prohibit him from performing tasks that are ancillary to mowing grass (i.e., digging dirt, shoveling/spreading mulch, wearing and using a back-pack style leaf blower, handling 10-gallon fuel tanks, etc.). He will, however, still be able to operate a commercial lawn mower and drive the pickup truck that pulls the equipment. Management wants you to advise on the following question: “What are we going to do with Joe?”
Prompt One: What facts and circumstances of the scenario present legal risks with the interplay of the ADA, FMLA and Workers’ Comp, and why?
Prompt Two: Analyze the facts and circumstances you have identified in light of the Module Five learning, explain your analysis and how such can guide the company. (HINT: In your analysis you can state how additional facts or circumstances not presented in the scenario, could impact your analysis and response to management.)