What is reasonable?

Further in the hiring business……….the high school student has a somewhat limited schedule, so Boss would prefer someone who can work a more varied schedule. One of our employees has an acquaintance who has been looking for a job for a long time. The problem is, he has a disability. I very much realize that it's illegal to discriminate based on a disability. However, we only have to make a reasonable accommodation. What is reasonable?

If he was a quadriplegic, there'd be no question. He could not do the job functions, which include stocking shelves, climbing a ladder, running a cash register, etc. Not possible. So no. But this guy has a borderline disability. He might be able to do the job, but there's a good chance that he won't be able to. If it came to firing him, what reason would we give? Maybe he was making a good effort, but he was simply unable to do the job because of his disability. Could we fire him? How?

There were other things that bothered me, too. Transportation that was less than ideal (he was an hour late to the interview), a totally unrelated job history, and just a gut feeling that he'd be problems. When a current employee recommends someone, it's turned out to be a 50/50 chance of getting a good employee. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it works really well. Sometimes it's the worst thing ever.

Had the current employee not recommended the applicant so strongly, I would have said no right away. But that employee is good and if he thinks the applicant will be a good match for our workplace, then it's worth a shot, right?

But then there's that gut feeling.

I was up in the air. Boss checked with another store and they basically told her that because he has a disability we have to hire him. Uh, no…..that's not how it works. We can't refuse to hire him because of his disability, but we can not hire him because of other reasons.

I interviewed someone last year who had a similar but not nearly as pronounced disability and I decided two minutes in that he was a definite no. Why? Besides being an asshole, he trashed his former employer, had a negative attitude, and was a know-it-all. Bad combination. Anyway, Boss got scared of a lawsuit and hired the guy. I don't feel good about this.