Document B84L4x4v2m9yJw1orZgb4XN4k

c c Mr. A P Stover ETHYL CORPORATION CHRYSLER BUILDING 4 0 5 LEXINGTON AVENUE N E W Y O R K 17.N.Y: August 9 , 1946 Dr Robert A Eehoe College of Medicine Kettering laboratory of Applied Physiology Eden Avenue C incinnati, 19 Ohio . ify dear Bobt The enclosed le tte r raises a broad question which has been-brought before the Administrative Committee fo r consideration Hhile any action in th is matter is e n tirely beyond the authority of the Administrative Committee, i t appears probable th at the Company should adopt some general p olicy -which we might recommend t o the management A study 3 being made of the ways in which other companies handle the problem but I should also lik e t o have you give us the b enefit of your opinions in the matter US' 0 0 15 4 0 5  * ' *:. * * S.!':. ' ' V ` 'i V.,- : Me fork Baton Rouge July 17, 1946 er_ia to give you the facts in the caso of one of , rhose adjusted service date is October 19, orig in a lly hired by du Pont Contract ion as helper - 2nd class on October 19, 1936, and was tran s ferred on May 4 , 1938, to TIL, where he progressed through to pipe f i t t e r - 1st c la s s , reaching th at c la s s ific a tio n May 4., 1941, j . . During 1941 ha began to experience so d iffic u lty with hypertension, and o u r d ic a l Department has. sin ce kept track of hi condition. In the summer of 1945 he took o ff about fiv e weeks and went to a c lin ic for a complete examination, Th c lin ic a l record ahaws that one of his kidneys has completely ceased to function, he has estreat?iy high blood pressure (both d ia s to lic and s y s t o lic ) , and has a ^ e r y se r io cardiac condition. After th is c lin ic a l report, Mr, WMSSlia-castt was watched'very c lo s e ly by cur Medical Department, and i t was fin a lly decided by them that his condition would not im prove, They then recommended that he be put on r e str ic te d , ork# v-Ha was removed t a i M i c la s s ific a tio n as p ip e fitte r - l e t class and. : made an in su lator - 1st class on April 22, 1946, Subsequently, the Medics! Department determined that he should not be permitted to do any climbing or any typo of work requiring strenuous exercise and should not be allowed to contact to x ic m aterials. Under t hese lim i ta tio n s, we have no opening on the plant that fill s a tis fa c to r ily so we have placed him on d is a b ility . If nothing can l>e done to aid him further, we f e e l that i t w ill be necessary to terminate his services at the end of th d is a b ility period, ' This particular case, i s somewhat ty p ica l of at le a st twenty otho# employees ho wo nOw have on the plant assigned to r e str ic te d work as a resu lt of recommendations by th Medical Deportment, Some of these employees are su fferin g fro "off-tho-plaaV illn e s s e s or accidents and others from d if f ic u lt ie s caused by occupational haaard*, Ifcese sen vary In service from one year up t o , as in Polite* case, approximately nine and one-half years, :" KT 0 0 15 4 0 0 . c- \ V V- *rm fV 1 * *, l* . ' \ ' V\ f &JtfteL&BFk f sv m p m lS m ifc- ft -b -i , H. Schaefer * , - r gx ' , a'-: '.'W , In attem pting to. *",,2`"'"s' J u ly 1 ? , 19U6 cases,, several fa c to rs . , Vi A , *&* f f t ^ ' "' FlrBi j ^ t DiSabi'llties^Ca^.Ved.'' by' O ccupation on th e P la n t ^"n &hese sasbfe thfe 'men have some a ilm e n t which p re c lu d e s th e ^ p o s s ib ility 'o f t h e i ^ being employed on t h e i r re g u la r jobs and gives .them, a v%ry*5iiniteSls u&fefulness on th e p l a n t . I t has been my e x p e rie n c e . tha'"'S'ubh`' caS es"dr'i^'-'aiong f o r s e v e r a l y e a r s , th e men a re p la c e d on re s tric te d ''* w o rk js a r e 1p a id wage s f o r do in g p r a c t i c a l l y n o th in g , and genefcaliy" fend ftp b y s u in g th e Company f o r a d i s a b i l i t y payment u n d er th en Workmen?fe Com pensation la w s. T h is i s p a r t i c u l a r l y t r u e o f "back" cases,* swhichvare alm ost im p o ssib le to prove one way o r the: o th e r b u t 'w h ic h th l feourts i n t h i s S ta te g e n e r a lly a d ju d ic a te on th e b a s is o f th e employee *s c la im s . The q u e s tio n a r i s e s a s to w hether th e Compiany ' sh o u ld 'discharge such em ployees im m ed iately and pay th e r e s u l t i n g com p e n sa tio n award o r pay them wages fo r s e v e ra l y ears and end up by pay ing- th e compensation award anyway. Second: Cases o f D is a b ility from O utside Causes These cases a re g e n erally h e a rt, lu n g , or stomach d iso rd e rs which i f allow ed t o rem ain on th e p l a n t may le a d to more s e r io u s com p l i c a t i o n s f o r th e employee an d , a s i n th e i n s t a n t c ase o f P o l i t o , may r e s u lt in d e fin ite hazard to fellow- workers because of p o ssib le f a in t ing s p e lls or a c tu a l d eath . In view of t h is , co n sid eratio n should be giv en a s t o how f a r th e Company's l i a b i l i t y e x ten d s i n ta k in g c a re o f such em ployees b ecau se o f long- Company s e r v ic e and w hether o r n o t th e y should be k ep t on th e p la n t when t h e i r p h y s ic a l c o n d itio n makes them s u b je c t t o more s e r io u s c o m p lic a tio n s f o r which th e Company may be h e ld responsible. . . Summing up th e above, i t would ap p ear t h a t i t i s n e c e s s a ry f o r th e Company t o i n s t i t u t e some p o lic y w hich w a ll c l e a r l y d e fin e what i t considers to be i t s re s p o n s ib ility toward both occupations! and non-occupational d is a b ility c ase s. I f th e Company f e e l s t h a t a s a m a tte r o f employee and p u b lic good, w i l l ' i t sh o u ld make som p r o v is io n f o r such employees o u ts id e o f any le g a l o b lig a tio n s, i t is ny opinion th a t th is p o licy should be s ta te d i n such a way th a t i t can .be p u b lish ed so th a t a l l employees m i l be aware o f how th e y w i l l be t r e a t e d I n th e e v en t th e y become subject to the procedures outlined in the p o licy . K 00154 ~T* iff S'- *. - f3; / H. Schaefer Cl CCtorD>l ,-- - 3- July 17* 1946 The Unions on th e p la n t have s t a t e d th a t th ey f e e l th a t som ething more th an th e r e g u la r d i s a b i l i t y p r o v is io n sh o u ld b em a d t o ta k e care of em ployees w ith c a s e s s im ila r t o th a t o f^WB M j ^ a i t a r th e y have serv ed th e Company lon g and f a i t h f u l l y # They wxXX n o t , how e v er tak e a d e f i n i t e stand on t h is so th a t I cannot g iv e you any id ea of what th e y c o n s id e r to be proper# I t i s my o p in io n th a t where such p r o v is io n s are made i t would probably be n e c e ssa r y to t i e them in w ith a. P en sion Plan However, P en sio n Plans norm ally req u ir e r e tirem en t at th e age o f s i x t y - f i v e ana are g e n e r a lly p red ic a te d on f i f t e e n or so re y ea rs o f Company s e n d e e , a n d th e a m o u n t o f any p en sio n th a t cou ld be p aid to an employee l i k e w ith s lig h ly le s s than ten y e a r s ' s e r v i c e , who i s o n ly f o r t y years of a g e , would be q u ite sm all# I p e r s o n a lly am not sym p ath etic w ith th e p h ilo so p h y th a t m erely because a man works fo r a Company th e Company i s in any way o b lig a te d to care fo r him fo r l i f e r e g a r d le s s of what happens# I b e lie v e th a t o u tsid e o f some nominal h elp from the- Company th e man's c o n d itio n becomes th e problem of h is fam ily and, in exten u atin g circu m stan ces, the public# l a c e r t a in ly a rs in no p o s it io n on t h i s p la n t to con tin u e t o make jobs fo r p eo p le w ith lim ite d c a p a c ity # There are very few such jobs on th e plant# I f th e occupants of such jobs are paid anything approaching a decen t wage, th ey im m ediately become fa c to r s in low er in g th e morale of o th er workers who f e e l th a t th ey are working hard fo r t h e i r wages w h ile th e lim ite d em ployee i s doing n o th in g anu g e t t in g p a id app roxim ately th e same money th e y are# We would a p p r e c ia te i t very much i f you would review t h i s whole s it u a t io n and a d v ise us as to th e p o s s i b i l i t y of s e t t i n g up a Company p o lic y t o d e a l w ith a l l such c a se s and a ls o a d v ise us a t y o u r p e a r lie s t co n v en ien ce as to what d is p o s i t io n sh ould toe mad of case# MEP/wr M# S# P etteg rsw ; I n d u s t r ia l R e la tio n s Manager KE 0015408