Call 888-647-0579 to speak with an alcohol or drug abuse counselor.

Who Answers?

Was It OK to Insist That He Receive Alcohol Treatment?

If an employer requires an employee to complete an inpatient alcohol treatment as a condition of keeping his job, does it regard him as an alcoholic?

What happened. “Clark” worked for Seward County, Nebraska, from 1981 until 2005. He was a Vietnam veteran who suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and took medication to control his symptoms. On July 22, 2005, Clark left work early, began drinking, and became intoxicated. Later that night, he wounded some of his family’s farm animals and threatened his wife. He was arrested the next morning for making terrorist threats and using a firearm to commit a felony.

The Seward County board and Clark agreed that he would get a psychological evaluation and a substance abuse evaluation. He met with a mental health practitioner from the Veterans Administration (VA), who recommended that he complete inpatient alcohol treatment. But Clark did not want to complete inpatient treatment and told the board he would instead pursue outpatient treatment. But the board decided to follow the recommendations of the VA and required Clark to complete inpatient treatment. It mailed a letter to Clark telling him to enroll at an inpatient treatment center within 10 days or lose his job. The board wound up giving him much more than 10 days to comply with this request, but Clark ultimately refused, so it terminated him.

Clark sued the county under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), claiming that it regarded him as a disabled alcoholic. A federal district court in Nebraska found for the county and Clark appealed to the 8th Circuit (which includes Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota).

What the court said. Clark claimed that in requiring him to complete inpatient alcohol treatment as a condition of keeping his job, the board regarded him as an alcoholic. The court explained that an employer regards an employee as disabled when it mistakenly believes that an employee’s physical ailments substantially limit his/her ability to work. However, the board’s insistence upon Clark’s completion of inpatient treatment “was not based upon misconceptions, myths or stereotypes about his possible drinking problem” but rather on “a very serious incident which resulted in criminal charges” and “a licensed mental health therapist’s recommendation” that Clark complete inpatient alcohol treatment. Judges concluded that the board’s insistence that Clark fulfill their requirement before returning to his job did not violate the ADA’s prohibitions on regarding employees as disabled. Kozisek v. Seward County, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, No. 07-3682 (2008).

Point to remember: Clark also claimed that he was disabled because of the PTSD, but the court found that regardless of whether he had a disability, the board “articulated a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason” for firing Clark—his refusal to complete inpatient alcohol treatment.

source: HR BLR

More Treatment & Detox Articles

Housing Homeless Alcoholics Cuts Public Costs, Alcohol Use

Permanent housing for homeless patients with ongoing drinking problems can help reduce medical and social costs and lower alcohol consumption, researchers here said. In one year, the so-called “Housing First” program cut costs from about $8 million to $4 million across the study sample, Mary E. Larimer, Ph.D., of the University of Washington, and colleagues….

Alcoholism: Losing Old Friends to Stay Sober

Alcoholism, like many addictions, is a disease of reinforcement. When you take drugs or alcohol, you feel better and when you stop drinking, you miss the feeling. By this same mechanism, the people you associate with can start to reinforce your drinking behavior. Even though, for many, alcoholism ends up being a disease of solitude….

New Research Improves Early Detection And Survival For Pancreatic Cancer

There are new and innovative methods to better understand the risk factors for and improve earlier detection of pancreatic cancer. Specifically, researchers can demonstrate that the development of, new biomarkers, novel treatment targets, innovative approaches to screening and surveillance and improved understanding of risk factors can lead to diagnosis of pancreatic cancer at earlier more….

Is alcoholism a problem of the poor?

The government’s fierce war against alcohol has taken a different dimension. When they started, the government said alcohol drinking was a vice that perpetuates social moral turpitude. That was then, but now they have raised the pitch, zoning in on the face of poverty, a feature that continues to define a significant section of our….

Warning over alcohol intake surge

The amount Britons drink has surged in recent decades, fuelled by plummeting prices and more women bingeing on alcohol. Awareness groups have warned for some time that consumption of alcohol is rising and that the number of booze-related deaths will continue to increase unless action is taken. Alison Rogers, chief executive of the British Liver….