• People in recovery from drug or alcohol abuse are protected by federal and state laws
• Employers cannot discriminate against those in recovery
• Employers may need to alter schedules or provide time off for treatment

Individuals in recovery from drug or alcohol addiction are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and state laws. An employer needs to provide a reasonable accommodation to an employee as long as doing so does not place an undue hardship on the company.

An accommodation could include:

• An adjustment to a work schedule to allow the employee to attend recovery group meetings.
• Lifting a restriction on personal phone calls during work time to allow an employee to call an Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor.

People in recovery should not be disqualified from a job because they are in recovery. Rejecting a person for a job because that person is in recovery would be discriminatory.

If a job would not be appropriate for a person in recovery, the reason for denying employment would need to be job-related and consistent with business necessity. A company would need to show that the individual poses a direct threat (that there is a significant risk of substantial harm) to the health or safety of the individual or others.

In addition, the employer would need to show that there is no reasonable accommodation that can be made to allow the person to do the job.

Job-protected leave for recovery

An employee’s time off to attend a substance abuse recovery program could be a reasonable accommodation under the ADA.

Leave may also be eligible for job-protected leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The FMLA, which applies to employers with more than 50 employees, requires employers to provide up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave in a 12-month period to qualified employees.

An employee’s leave for substance abuse treatment would be covered by the FMLA if treatment is provided by:

• A health care provider, or
• A health care services provider referred by the health care provider.

When an eligible employee returns from FMLA leave, the employee must be given the same job or an equivalent position. If, for example, an employee is returned to a less desirable shift, a position at a different location, or a job that that does not offer the same opportunity for overtime, an employee could claim that the company retaliated against the employee for taking time off under the FMLA.