1782 Peoples v. UAW-FCA Department

An employee requesting disability leave for a condition such as PTSD would be required to produce medical records of a diagnosable psychiatric illness describing symptoms and treatment and explaining how manifestation of the condition is triggered and why that would prevent the employee from performing his duties in the workplace. Peoples refused to substantiate the reasons for his absence from work after being requested to do so in a five-day letter issued in accordance with the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. His failure to do so resulted in the termination of his seniority The International Representative who withdrew Peoples’s grievance reported that he attempted to negotiate an agreement to have Peoples reinstated, but management refused to consider any remedy for Peoples short of arbitration. Taylor concluded that Peoples’s grievance could not be successfully arbitrated based on his low seniority and poor work history. The record in this case supports Taylor’s conclusion.