Legal Question in Employment Law in North Carolina
I am a manager at a large outpatient healthcare center. I hired an employee a year ago for a position that requires a high level of skill, but is also very physically demanding. She is responsible for the physical safety of patients as well as being able to lift somewhat heavy equipment on a daily basis.
Just recently, I received an email from someone who informed me that this employee had been injured at her former job (doing the same thing), she has permanent lifting restrictions that would have excluded her from our job applicant pool, and that she has accepted a monetary settlement from her former employer for this injury.
This employee never disclosed this information to us on her application, nor during her interview.
Am I permitted to confront this employee with the content of this email? If she admits that she did not disclose this injury (thereby opening up my company to possible future injury claims or even injury claims by patients who may need her assistance and she cannot provide it safely)--what are my options? The source of the information declines to be identified, but this person claims to have felt morally obligated to disclose based on patient safety concerns.
1 Answer from Attorneys
The last thing you should do is that which you propose. Asking about a medical condition (if she has shown no reason whatsoever that she cannot perform the essential job functions of current job) will open your employer up to a potential ADA violation claim.
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