Preparing for an FCE or Post-Offer Medico-Legal Webinar - Part I
Posted on Mon, Jul 12, 2010 @ 10:58 AM
The process of prepping for a medico-legal webinar may be of interest to you. On the first Thursday of every month we do a 90-minute session on the latest activity in the federal courts in the area of Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE) or Post-Offer, Pre-Placement Testing (POET or PPT).
The case I have selected for the August 5th webinar is actually a state case. The State of California, through its Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) branch, has settled an employment disability administrative complaint against Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC). The settlement agreement included a $259,854 disbursement to ten job applicants/claimants.
The root of this action stems from LLUMC's requirement that applicants for the following positions participate in a post-offer nerve conduction study: patient care assistant, referral assistant, phlebotomist, case manager, unit secretary, records representative, practitioner-resident and financial counselor.
The key issue in this case, as in the Indergard v. Georgia Pacific case in the federal courts, is the use of a test not directly tied to a physical demand of an essential function of the job(s) in question. This issue is driving reform of the FCE marketplace in the United States.
The steps I take to prepare for the 90-minute presentation include: (1) selecting a case, (2) obtaining a copy of the settlement agreement or the court's published opinion, (3) requesting supporting documents that will assist me to understand the issues, and (4) talking with the therapist or evaluator involved in the case.
Today I requested three documents from the State of California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing: LLUMC's pre-employment, post-offer physical exam policy, any job analyses of the positions that required the nerve conduction tests and LLUMC's nerve conduction test policy.
I also requested copies of job descriptions and job announcements for the positions that required nerve conduction studies.
Please join me, on August 5th at 2 p.m. EDT, for the webinar: Loma Linda Settles Post-Offer Case for $260,000.
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In my next post I will review the half-dozen federal cases that are shaping reform of the practice of Functional Capacity Evaluation in the United States.
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