ada question- my daughter has epilepsy

[happyslug]

10. Employers can NOT discriminate against disable people UNLESS it affects the ability to work

And that is the heart of this dispute. Can your daughter do the job? and that includes AVOIDING getting hurt on the job. The burden is on the EMPLOYER to show that she is in danger, but the employer can cite your daughter's statement that she was in danger (i.e. if your daughter gets a letter from her doctor that she can do this type of work, the burden will be on the employer that she can not, a burden that would be hard for them to prove without medical evidence).

Thus the employer has the RIGHT to ask for medical documentation that your daughter can do the work (and that includes knowing about any seizures that would cause problems around machinery).

You did not say if your daughter had grand mal or petit mal seizures. I am assuming petit mal (Which have been described as a computer that locks up and needs to be shut down and rebooted). I make this assumption for she is working in a bakery and that means working around machinery and in cases of Petit Mal that can be done, but NOT in cases with Grand Mal Seizures. Also everyone sees when someone goes into a Grand Mal Seizures, but you have to look to see if someone is in a Petit Mal for in a Petit Mal you end up staring into space for your brain has locked up).

Now, excess absenteeism is grounds for termination. That includes excess absenteeism even if the excess absenteeism is do to sickness or other good cause. Excess absenteeism can show an inability to do that type of work. Now excess absenteeism is missing more then one day a month on a CONSTANT BASIS. Missing one day a month on the average is NOT grounds for termination in most cases. Missing a bunch of days do to a medical condition is also NOT excess absenteeism (i.e. if you miss work for a month do to surgery or other illness that is NOT excess absenteeism even if you average it out on a year basis it is more then one day a month). The key is CONSTANT basis and from what you are telling me that is NOT the case with your daughter.

Now, you say your daughter is on SSI. She should be getting $741 plus any state supplement your state adds to the $741. The $741 is REDUCED by any income she gets doing the month. If the income is from Employment the GROSS employment income is reduced by $30 then 1/3 of the remainder is subtracted from the gross, then what is left is use to reduce her SSI dollar for dollar. i.e if your daughter's GROSS income is $630 a month, you subtract $30, to come to $600, then you divide that by 1/3 which is $200 and then reduce the $600 by that $200, That leaves $400, which is used to reduce the $741 to $341.

GROSS: $630
Less.......-30
............$600.. 1/3 of $600 is $200
Less......$200
............$400

SSI amount $741
less............$400
She gets....$341

Please note, your daughter's income for February will be used to reduce her SSI for May, the reduction is done two months after the income is earned.

Also, your daughter's SSI can be reduced by "in kind assistance" i.e. when parents do NOT charge her rent. That is considered "In kind" Assistance and is used to reduce her SSI amount. Thus if you do NOT charge her rent, Social Security can say that is the same as $150 in money given to her, so her SSI will be reduced by that $150. The way around this is always tell SSA that you are charging your daughter rent if she lives at home with you. $150 is generally enough to avoid that you are providing your daughter room and board as "in Kind" assistance to your daughter. You do NOT have to collect it, but you have to till SSA that you are charging her that much money.

One last comment. Make sure your daughter does NOT earn more then $1000 a month. At about $1100 a month, Social Security starts to say that is Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) and as such she is NOT disabled and thus NOT entitled to SSI. This is a DIFFERENT Test then the above reduction of her SSI based on her income. The reduction of SSI, is Congress's plan to minimize spending on SSI but making sure a person only gets the bare minimum income to take care of themselves. The SGA test goes to the issue is she disabled? If she can do SGA,
Substantial Gainful Activity, then she is NOT disabled and is NOT eligible for SSI.

One last comment, many people confuse SSI (Supplemental Security Income) with Social Security Disability. Both use the same test for disability (if you are disabled for SSI, you are disabled for Social Security Disability and this includes the SGA test) BUT Social Security Disability is NOT reduced by any other income your daughter gets, no matter how much income she gets and no matter what is the source of that income. i.e. my comments about the reduction of her SSI do to her other income does NOT apply to cases of someone on Social Security Disability but does apply to someone in SSI. People get SSI and Social Security Disability mixed up all the time, but they are different programs, through both are run by the Social Security Administration.