Document byG4kJJkLoaa5MgaL3pbebEkg

B.F.GOODRICH CHEMICAL COMPANY TO: A. W. Clements E. W. Harrington J. L. Nelson G. Pow DATE: March 4, 1976 FROM: R. M. Montgomery Subject: Medically Restricted Employees The Problem In the event an employee is permanently medically restricted from working on his/her regular job by his/her personal physician (and the company doctor agrees with the restriction, or imposes it himself because of information available to him) should the employee be reassigned to another job, and if so, how should he/she be paid? Discussion The problem set forth above can come about for a large variety of reasons and be caused by non-occupational as well as occupational illnesses or accidents^ The nature of these situations can range from relatively minor to very seriops to the extent that no job in the plant meeting the medical restriction is available. The question of the placement of such people, and if so how they are paid, has been raised by several of the plants as well as the news media in relation to the vinyl chloride problem. Consistency in handling such matte therefore, is important, and the solution should be uniformally applied at all locations. It would seem that a moral responsibility exists for the company to give morp consideration to those employees medically restricted because of occupational illness or accident as contrasted to those with non-occupational health problems. Such differences, however, must be based on equity and fairness tp all employees, and easily understood by those directly as well as indirectly involved. Some Proposed Solutions As mentioned above, logic and fairness seem to indicate that there should be some slight variations in the treatment of occupational and non-occupational situations. It is for this reason that separate solutions are presented for each case, assuming the person involved has been permanently restricted from performing his/her regular work in accordance with medical procedures. *0 01 2- - Occupational Illness or Injury Cases 1. Attempt to place the employee on an open requisition meeting the medical restriction. 2. In the event there are no open requisitions meeting the medical restriction, attempt to arrange a job trade for the medically restricted person. This could be done by compiling a list of jobs meeting the medical restriction. These jobs, and the job of the medically restricted person could then be posted for a period of time (probably two days) in the departments involved offering people an opportunity to trade jobs with the medically restricted person. The qualified person with the greatest company service credit requesting the trade could be allowed to move to the job of the medically restricted person. 3. In the event no one wishes to trade jobs with the medically restricted person, he/she could then displace the person with the least seniority in the plant on a job meeting the medical restriction. The job of the medically restricted person could then be filled in accordance with local plant rules, and the person displaced would be placed on whatever job would result. 4. The person placed under 1, 2 or 3 above should be paid at the rate of the job from which he/she was removed during the period he/she is learning the new job, except that if such rate is higher than the top rate of the new job, then the new top job rate would be applicable for all work during as well as after a learning period. If the rate of the new job is greater than the prior job, the rate of the new job would be paid at the completion of the learning period. The person trading jobs with the medically restricted person should be paid the rates applicable to his/her new job. 5. In the event the person is placed on a job other than a regularly established job in the plant (such as the Wood Products Plant at Louisville) their rate of pay should be the same as that paid for the job from which he/she was removed. Non-Occupational Illness or Injury Cases 1. Attempt to place the employee on an open requisition meeting the medicajl restriction. .2 In the event there are no open requisitions meeting the medical restriction, attempt to arrange a job trade for the medically restricted person. This could be done by compiling a list of jobs meeting the medical restriction. These jobs, and the job of the medically restricted person could then be posted for a period of time (probably two days) in the departments involved offering people an opportunity to trade jobs with the medically restricted person. The qualified person with the greatest company service credit requesting the trade could be allowed to move to the job of the medically restricted person. i~*'> v.; T BFG64898 -33. In the event the person cannot be placed under 1 or 2 above, he/she is to be laid off awaiting placement on an open requisition meeting the medical restriction. Local plant rules regarding laid-off employees would then apply, except that the person would not be recalled to a job not meeting the requirements of the medical restriction. 4. The person placed under 1, 2 or 3 above would be paid the rates applicable to the new job. The above proposed solutions represent a starting point for arriving at the best possible solution to the problem. Your viewpoints as to how we should proceed on this matter would be appreciated. Once our collective viewpoints are compiled, it is suggested that the matter be reviewed with the plant industrial relations managers for any suggestions they may care to make before publishing the policy in its final form. RMM:sc !& CT, y I-. BFG64899 Ur V t