Disability is No Excuse for Counterproductive Behavior

I have a coworker that I have worked with for approximately 12 years. He has some problems at work, including falling asleep frequently, extremely poor hygiene, procrastination and frequent sloppiness/errors in his work. He does have some learning disabilities but he shows an inconsistent pattern of when the learning disabilities impact his job performance. In the past, I have supported him with large projects where his organizational difficulties have put our organization in jeopardy of missing deadlines on very large and important projects.

This year, I am a project manager and have been proactive in providing organizational guidelines for everyone. I am now seeing a different side of his behavior. He will knowingly put off working on the project while surfing the Internet. He will move from one location to another and exclaim, "Oh darn, I forgot to bring my project work. I guess I can't work on it if I forgot it." Most recently, he entered information into a report that was blatantly false. First, he claimed to not understand what he had done and then he proceeded to blame others for not proofreading his work. He also seems to enjoy the ensuing drama that results and putting us in a position of receiving penalties. He has on more than one occasion stated. "Well, what are they going to do if I don't do the work correctly or on time?" I am stressed and somewhat baffled at what to do to handle this manipulative behavior. Any suggestions are welcome.

I will answer your question on the assumption that your coworker's learning disabilities make him "disabled" as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or the Rehabilitation Act. Depending on the nature and severity of his disability, your organization might be legally required to accommodate him under one of the two laws.

Under either of the federal disability laws, your organization is only required to make an accommodation that is "reasonable." In the case of your coworker, this might mean helping him to stay organized and arranging to have his work proofread more closely. The law does not, however, require that employers cater to lazy or opportunistic workers.

You must address the specific counterproductive behaviors you have observed, which surely have nothing to do with this employee's learning disabilities, while at the same time continuing to appropriately support your coworker in his legitimate struggles. How you address these issues depends upon the nature of your relationship with your coworker. If project managers in your organization have some responsibility for performance feedback, then you can address your coworker's performance problems directly. If, however, you are in a strictly peer-to-peer relationship, then your charge is to explain these problems to your coworker's manager so that he or she can have the performance discussion.

In either case, keep detailed notes and be as specific as possible in your constructive feedback. The times you have witnessed this employee avoiding work by declaring shamelessly that he forgot his project file at a different location are a perfect example. You can also bring up the fact that you have observed him surfing the Internet when he is confronting a project deadline. In terms of attitude, you can discuss the destructive and demoralizing effect of his open declaration that he is, essentially, immune from discipline for his failure to deliver accurate work in a timely manner.

If you are not in a position to provide performance feedback directly to this employee, you can still address his behavior by taking the time to respond to what you see. For example, when he declares that he cannot do his project work because he has forgotten his materials at his desk, offer to bring the materials to him. When he suggests that he cannot be disciplined for not properly completing projects, say, "I don't know what could happen to you, but I do know that the rest of us working on Project X are counting on you to deliver a quality product." If you see him surfing the Internet, invite him to have a project status meeting with you.

What you have on your hands is a coworker with serious performance problems that appear to be rooted in a poor work ethic rather than a bona fide disability. To the extent that you are responsible for ensuring the timely delivery of first-rate projects, you must act. Demonstrate to your coworker that, although you want to help him overcome the challenges of his learning disability, you will not tolerate sabotage.

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Lily Garcia has offered employment law and human resources advice to companies of all sizes for more than 10 years. To submit a question, e-mail HRadvice@washingtonpost.com. We reserve the right to edit submitted questions for length and clarity and cannot guarantee that all questions will be answered.