The city Commission on Human Rights fought a four-year battle to reinstate a hospital worker canned for lousy attendance by arguing that he had a disability — a strep throat.
But a city arbitrator recently dismissed the complaint on behalf of patient-escort Keith Glaude — who had been given seven warnings about his poor attendance prior to the pink slip.
“The disability law exists to correct a societal imbalance that historically excluded and diminished the work opportunities of those with disabilities,” administrative-law Judge Tynia Richard wrote in an April decision. “Those societal needs are not implicated in the record of this case.”
While Glaude really was diagnosed with strep throat during one of his absence spells, Richard concluded that his checkered attendance and poor annual reviews over five years were worthy of termination by at what’s now New York-Presbyterian’s lower Manhattan hospital.
The commission can accept, reject or modify the judge’s report. Glaude couldn’t be reached. The hospital declined to comment.