Must I Accommodate a Graveyard Shift Worker With Insomnia?

By Eric B. Meyer

Let’s assume that you run a factory in which employees are scheduled on one of two shifts: (1) 6:00 AM – 6:00 PM; or (2) 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM.

One of your employees comes to you with a doctor’s note which states that working the graveyard shift will cause the employee to suffer migraine headaches and insomnia.

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that employers accommodate employees with disabilities if doing so will allow the employee to perform the essential functions of her job without creating undue hardship for the employer. One way in which an employer can reasonably accommodate an employee is through schedule adjustment or shift change.

Accommodating for an employee with insomnia

So, if the employee who is susceptible to migraines and insomnia at night asks to stay on the day shift, must you oblige?

This recent federal court opinion describes a situation in which the answer is yes:

Construed in a light most favorable to Plaintiff, the evidence shows that Plaintiff notified Defendants of her extreme insomnia and migraine headaches through a doctor’s note, a letter, and verbally alerting them to her conditions. Defendants also were aware that her conditions were triggered if she worked a graveyard shift past 12:00 a.m. Aware of Plaintiff’s conditions, Defendant Lopez scheduled Plaintiff for standby, including the possibility that Plaintiff would be called to cover graveyard shifts.

* * *

Defendants do not present evidence that allowing Plaintiff to be excused from working the graveyard shift on April 6, 2011, would have caused them an undue hardship.”

The undue-hardship defense

Indeed, the employer admitted that it scheduled Plaintiff to work the graveyard shift because of other employees’ concerns that Plaintiff was working only day shifts.

Thus, working the graveyard shift, in this particular setting, was not an essential job function. Plus, any alleged hit to employee morale caused by allowing the Plaintiff to continue to work the day shift could hardly be construed as undue hardship to the employer.

Now, there may be situations in which the economics or the overall impact in readjusting schedules could present undue hardship for an employer. But, remember that the burden is on the employer to show undue hardship and a court is not just going to accept the employer’s say-so if it raises that defense.

So, be prepared to back up that undue-hardship defense with numbers and facts.

Otherwise, make the accommodation for your disabled employee.

This was originally published on Eric B. Meyer’s blog, The Employer Handbook.