Florida is an employment-at-will jurisdiction. At-will employers can terminate their employees with or without cause and do not have to provide advance termination notice in most situations. Although employers can typically terminate their employees without notice or cause, federal employment laws require them to provide termination notice if they terminate a large number of employees. Furthermore, anti-discrimination employment regulations prohibit employers from firing their employees for discriminatory and retaliatory reasons. Florida employers must comply with anti-discrimination laws, advance notice requirements and last paycheck laws when terminating their employees.
She would have to meet the guidelines for being disabled to be covered by the ADA laws...
Definition Of Disability
Not everyone with a medical condition is protected by the law. In order to be protected, a person must be qualified for the job and have a disability as defined by the law.
A person can show that he or she has a disability in one of three ways:
A person may be disabled if he or she has a physical or mental condition that substantially limits a major life activity (such as walking, talking, seeing, hearing, or learning).
A person may be disabled if he or she has a history of a disability (such as cancer that is in remission).
A person may be disabled if he is believed to have a physical or mental impairment that is not transitory (lasting or expected to last six months or less) and minor (even if he does not have such an impairment).
But here is another interesting point directly from the ADAdotgov site....
Q. Can an employer consider health and safety when deciding whether to hire an applicant or retain an employee with a disability?
A.*Yes. The ADA permits employers to establish qualification standards that will exclude individuals who pose a direct threat -- i.e., a significant risk of substantial harm -- to the health or safety of the individual or of others, if that risk cannot be eliminated or reduced below the level of a direct threat by reasonable accommodation.
The United states Dept of Labor says: in order to benefit from the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act, you must disclose your disability. An employer is only required to provide work-related accommodations if you disclose your disability to the appropriate individuals. So if she didn't do that, "she's basically dead in the water."
Plus DCP participants also sign an agreement regarding housing that they can be terminated from housing as any time with or without cause.
I think there is more to this than she is sharing or maybe even aware of. But honestly the company has a legal obligation to protect her and others, fellow roommates, work associates and guests (if she has a job dealing with any). Think about if something happened to her...or others! I would be terribly angry if Disney knew there was a problem and then something happened because they didn't react. Disney is a HUGE Company. I would imagine their attorneys have them cross their T's and dot their I's.
I really am sorry this happened to her. I hope something good comes out of this for her. But she may really need to think twice about what she says/shares in the future. If I felt a fellow employee was a danger/threat to him/herself or others, I would not be able to forgive myself if something happened and I didn't report it to the appropriate parties.
Best of Luck to her!!
She's already graduated so this just keeps her from getting a "real job" just a little longer lol. I really wanted her to stay a bit longer though since she would have been done Jan 5 and even though we live in the South...I hate car travel in the winter. Always seems like ice happens whenever I plan that!
