Legal Question in Employment Law in Florida

Re: Letter of Resignation!!!

First, you are correct. Do not sign that letter for the reasons you stated.

Second, your company is probably subject to either or both the state or federal law against disability discrimination - basically the Americans with Disabilities Act. Although you may not have a disability under the law, the company is "regarding you" as if you have one. These are difficult cases to make though because, among other things, you have to show the company is regarding you as disabled for a broad category of jobs, not just yours. You may also have to show that reasonable accommodation exists. So, if the thing you can not do is "essential", i.e., it is one of the reasons the job exists, then unless you can do it with some type of accommodation, you have a problem. For example, a truck driver job exists to drive. So a person who can only drive part-time due to a back injury can not perform an essential function - full-time driving, and there is no reasonable accommodation unless a back support would do the trick.

On the other hand, if it is not essential, then the company can not make you do it, assuming you are in fact disabled (substantially limited in a major life activity such as walking, talking, thinking, or even working, etc.)

This gets very complicated and you really should speak with an attorney if your job is in jeopardy. The FMLA may also be implicated if you need leave now or in six months. You can also go online to the DOL and EEOC websites for advice, but an attorney can advise you taking into account the specific facts of your case.

Feel free to email directly if you want to speak with an attorney.

Good luck.

Jeff Sheldon

The Sheldon Law Firm

[email protected]

Caveat: This is general advice only and should not be relied upon as legal advice because all facts and circumstances are not known to the author.