An emergency medical technician who alleges she was unlawfully terminated after she refused to go to psychological counseling because the counseling constituted an improper medical examination under the Americans with Disabilities Act can advance her claim before a jury, the Sixth Circuit decides, reversing a lower court decision in favor of the employer.

The ADA prohibits employers from requiring a medical examination or making inquiries of an employee as to whether such employee is an individual with a disability . . . unless such examination or inquiry is shown to be job-related and consistent with business necessity, the Court observes. “Thus, employees can be instructed to undergo medical examinations by employers only ‘in certain limited circumstances,’ confined by the ‘job-relatedness’ and ‘business necessity’ requirements.” The EMT contends she was ordered to undergo the counseling after she became romantically involved with a co-worker.

The Court says that the administration and interpretation by a health-care professional—weigh in favor of the “psychological counseling” the EMT was instructed to attend being a “medical examination,” and concludes that a reasonable jury could find that the “psychological counseling” the EMT was instructed to attend constituted a “medical examination.” Kroll v. White Lake Ambulance Authority