The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (Chicago) has confirmed that an employer may fire an employee with a mental illness who threatens violence and not run afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act (the "ADA").
The plaintiff, Marquitta Palmer, worked as a social service caseworker for the Cook County, Circuit Court. Palmer did not get along with her coworker, Nicki Lazzaro, whom Palmer believed was too friendly with their supervisor, Clara Johnson. Palmer was twice suspended after making numerous threats to physically harm Lazzaro and after rebuffing her supervisor's efforts to counsel her concerning that conduct.
Even after Palmer was transferred to a different part of the court, she clashed with Johnson, her supervisor, whom she suspected of orchestrating a case against her. Palmer made a series of phone calls to the office from her home in which she accused Johnson of harassing her and stated: "I'm ready to kill her, I don't know what I'll do. Her ass is mine. She needs her ass kicked and I'm going to do it ... I want Clara bad and I want her dead." Palmer told another worker that Johnson would be "better off dead."
The Circuit Court fired Palmer for her threats to kill her supervisor. Palmer sued, claiming her discharge violated the ADA, since she had been diagnosed with major depression and delusional (paranoid) disorder. The trial judge threw out her case, concluding that Palmer did not have a disabling condition but only a "personality conflict" with her supervisor and co-worker.
The Seventh Circuit (covering Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin) affirmed the dismissal, but for different reasons. Contrary to the trial court, the appellate court found that Palmer in fact had a disabling mental illness. It noted that while a personality conflict with a supervisor or co-worker does not establish a disability under the ADA, an employee may have a mental illness that is protected by the ADA even if a non-disabling trigger -- such as a personality conflict --causes the mental illness to be disabling.
Although Palmer had a disabling mental illness protected by the ADA, the appellate court still dismissed her case, because there was no evidence that she was fired because of her mental illness. Rather, she was terminated because she threatened to kill another employee and, according to the Seventh Circuit, "if an employer fires an employee because of the employee's unacceptable behavior, the fact that the behavior was precipitated by a mental illness does not present an issue under the Americans with Disabilities Act." The court also concluded that an employer's duty to reasonably accommodate disabled employees does not run in favor of employees who commit or threaten to commit violent acts.