Points of No Return: When Attendance Policies Violate the ADA

Your attendance policy seems bulletproof. Employees get points for absences. Accumulate too many points, and they're terminated. No exceptions, no favoritism, complete fairness across the board.

But that "no exceptions" rule just became your biggest legal liability.

When attendance policies don't account for disability-related absences, they transform from management tools into ADA violations. What feels like consistent enforcement becomes systematic discrimination—and the penalties can be devastating.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) doesn't care how consistently you apply your attendance policy. If that policy has a disparate impact on employees with disabilities—or if you refuse to modify it as a reasonable accommodation—you're violating federal law.

Under the ADA, employers must provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees with disabilities, unless doing so would cause undue hardship. This includes modifying attendance policies when the modification would enable the employee to perform their essential job functions.

ADA Requirements:

FMLA Overlap:

A manufacturing company used a "no fault" attendance system where employees received points for any absence:

When a warehouse worker with diabetes needed additional time for medical appointments and occasional sick days due to his condition, he requested accommodation. HR responded that "the attendance policy applies to everyone equally" and refused to modify the point system.

After accumulating 10 points—mostly from diabetes-related absences and medical appointments—he was terminated. This fact patten alone exposes the Company to litigation, which could have clearly been avoided.

A healthcare organization faced a similar situation when a nurse with lupus needed flexible scheduling and additional sick leave during flare-ups. Instead of rigid policy enforcement, they:

Result: The nurse remained a productive employee, no legal claims were filed, and the organization's accommodation process became a model for other departments.

Problem: Policies that never allow exceptions become per se violations when applied to disability-related absences.

Solution: Build flexibility into policies from the start, with clear accommodation procedures.

Problem: Including FMLA leave, worker's compensation time, or accommodation-related absences in disciplinary calculations.

Solution: Separate tracking systems for protected leave vs. attendance issues.

Problem: Assuming all positions require 100% attendance without analyzing actual job requirements.

Solution: Conduct job analyses to determine when attendance is truly essential vs. preferred.

Problem: Only considering on-the-job modifications while ignoring time off as potential accommodation.

Solution: Evaluate unpaid leave, flexible scheduling, and intermittent arrangements.

Attendance policies should support business operations while respecting employee rights. When designed thoughtfully, they can accomplish both goals without creating legal liability.

The key is building flexibility into your policies from the start—not retrofitting accommodation after the fact. When employees know you're committed to finding solutions rather than enforcing rigid rules, you create trust and reduce the likelihood of conflicts.

Remember: the ADA doesn't require you to eliminate attendance standards. It requires you to consider whether modifications would enable employees with disabilities to meet those standards. That's not just good legal compliance—it's good business practice.

Every accommodation is an opportunity to retain valuable employees, demonstrate your company's values, and build a more inclusive workplace. The alternative—rigid policies that ignore individual needs—creates liability without improving performance.

Keep fighting the good fight.