Accommodation For Drugs Or Alcohol Addicts

The ADA treats addiction to either drugs or alcohol differently from other types of disabilities. Accordingly, an employer's obligation to an alcoholic or a recovering drug addict in the workforce stands on a different footing under the Act. In this regard, the statute specifically provides that an employer ''may hold an employee who engages in the illegal use of drugs or who is an alcoholic to the same qualification standards for employment or job performance and behavior'' that the employer ''holds other employees, even if any unsatisfactory performance or behavior is related to the drug use or alcoholism'' of the disabled employee. Thus, while an individual's status as an alcoholic or a recovering drug addict may be protected under the ADA, the person is not protected from the consequences of his or her conduct, and an employer need not tolerate misconduct by an employee who is an alcoholic or a recovering drug addict. As recognized by the federal District Court for the Central District of Illinois, ''so long as the reason for [an alcoholic's] discharge was for conduct that any person would have been disciplined for doing, the fact that alcoholism may have caused the conduct does not lead to an ADA violation.''