Articles

Peyton Place and Gina's Rights
by Dr. Lynne Curry

Question:
Although I’m a female supervisor, I oversee an all male department, which means I don’t always know how to handle the "touchy feely" issues that come up. The guys are pretty competitive and occasionally battle lines get drawn. Right now, two of my team refuse to work together.

These two were good friends who frequently went out drinking after work until one of them offered to "set the other up" with a former housemate with whom he’d had a brief relationship. Apparently, the two housemates had stayed in email contact but hadn’t seen each other for nine months. Then these two employees and the former housemate and her friend met for dinner. At dinner, the employee arranging the dinner learned his former housemate had lost sixty pounds and now "looked like a fox." He then told the other employee, "the deal’s off."

The other employee liked the housemate and told the first employee, "Every man for himself." To make a long story short, the housemate liked the second employee best and now these two guys are fighting over everything and acting like children. I need to know what to say to help resolve this. I’ve had similar mix-ups happen to me in my life and I’ve learned to not go out with individuals if they’ve been involved with good friends. Would saying something like that be helpful?

Answer:
No. Supervisors fall into a deep hole when they start giving personal life advice.

Here’s what you risk by stepping out of your role as supervisor and taking on the role of counselor. First, you may alienate both employees – after all, by giving advice you meddle in their personal lives. You may even unite both against you or give one employee the feeling your advice favors his co-worker. Second, you trample on their rights as employees – rights that include privacy and "freedom of off-the-job association," meaning that either can see whoever he wants to when not at work. Do you want to take these risks?

If what you really want is an end to war in the workplace, give your employees that message and avoid dishing out unsolicited advice. Meet with your employees separately or together. Say, "You may not like each other but your job includes working together." Outline to each the actions you won’t allow in the workplace – whether that includes calling each other names, shoving each other or withholding crucial information to make the other look bad. By keeping your focus on business, you may help your two combatants return to a business focus themselves.

Question:
Three months ago "Gina" won our "Employee of the Year award." The next week she had a car accident and is now out on sick and Family Medical Leave Act paid and unpaid leave. The burns, whiplash and other injuries Gina received leave her temporarily and perhaps chronically disabled. Although Gina wants to return to work after she uses up her paid leave, she can’t handle sitting upright and we’d have to email her documents to work on at home. We’re willing to do this, however, we have a limited amount of work that lends itself to an email telecommuter. If we give Gina enough of this type of work, we’d have to take desirable work away from two employees who have more seniority than Gina.

When we went to these employees to discuss re-working their jobs, each got irate, saying we had to find a way to help Gina without taking away their "favorite" work. Part of what irks them is jealousy over Gina’s several promotions and recent award. I think that Gina’s rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and her past great performance would allow us to alter all three jobs. Right?

Answer:
According to Attorney Helena Hall, you can alter all three jobs as long as you do not violate any contractual obligation you have to your employees, such as a seniority system. Says Hall, "The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled in Barnett v. U.S. Air that dismantling seniority rights may create an undue hardship for the employer and thus employers do not have to violate an entrenched seniority system in accommodating disabled employees." Hall also say that you need to remember that your decision on Gina can set a precedent that may obligate you to similarly handle other disabled employees in the future.

That said, you may decide to accommodate Gina because you value the dedication that earned her "employee of the year." If so, call an attorney. According to Hall and other attorneys, each case in this complex area of overlapping ADA and seniority rights depends on the facts involved. For example, have these two employees simply worked at your company longer than Gina or does an actual union contract protect their seniority? If you get the right legal advice and truly value all your employees, you’ll make the right decision.