Sleeping on the Job 

An Ohio Court Of Appeals ruled that an employee can be fired for sleeping on the job.

This does not seem to be such a major decision. You would think sleeping on the job is an obvious reason to be fired.

You would think so, but believe it or not, this issue has been litigated not only in Ohio Courts but in Federal Courts . In this case, the employee worked for the Springfield Metropolitan Housing Authority as a Facilities Manager. Within two weeks of being hired, he started having sleeping problems on the job, including falling asleep at his desk, in meetings and even in the middle of conversations. It turns out he had Sleep Apnea, which caused his sleeping problems. He claimed his sleep problems were a disability and that his employer violated Ohio's version of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Is Sleep Apnea a disability?

The Court held that Sleep Apnea was a disability that could be protected by the Ohio and Federal Disabilities Law. However, even if you have a disability, you can be terminated unless you can show that you can perform the essential functions of the job with reasonable accommodation by the employer. The Court noted that part of this employee's job was to use a company car and visit fourteen separate housing developments located all over the county. If he fell asleep while driving, it would be a safety risk. In this situation, staying awake was an essential function of the job and his employer could terminate him and not be in violation of the discrimination laws.

Is the employer obligated to try to accommodate the employee's sleeping problem?

Under both Ohio and Federal Law, employers are obligated to try to make a reasonable accommodation of an employee's disability, unless the employer can demonstrate such an accommodation would be an undue hardship on the business. In this case, the employee never suggested any solution to the sleeping problem. The lesson to be learned from this case is an employee needs to be proactive and meet with this employer if he has a disability that impacts his work. Maybe they can work out some arrangement to accommodate the disability, which is not burdensome on the employer. Although I am not sure if any reasonable accommodation could be made for an employee falling asleep on the job when the employee is potentially driving a car.