Jeff Kapche, a 15-year law enforcement veteran who is currently a detective with the Fort Bend County, Texas Sheriff’s Department has just won a case for all diabetics. The United States District Court for the District of Columbia found that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) discriminated against Mr. Kapche when it refused to hire him as a special agent because of how he manages his type I diabetes. People with type I diabetes require frequent administrations of insulin, which Mr. Kapche injects. However, the FBI’s policy requires special agents to manage their diabetes with insulin pumps, rather than injections, due to the unpredictable nature of the job. However, given Mr. Kapche’s impeccable record of diabetes management throughout his long tenure of public service the court has found the FBI’s policy to be discriminatory. ”I am thrilled the jury understood that the FBI’s decision was discriminatory and that I could be a good Special Agent,” said Kapche. “I don’t want anyone else to go through what I have experienced and I hope this jury verdict sends the message that employers should look at each person as an individual, not simply someone with a disease.” Read more.
Is it discriminatory to deny employment based on a medical condition? Share your comments here.
Tags: diabetes, discrimination, FBI, insulin, Jeff Kapche
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Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.
May 27th, 2009 at 7:36 am
not if the job is specific about the requirements and you’re not able to do what the job demands.:say-the job requires occasions of strict isolation without warning-and you can’t just drop off the face of the earth at a moment’s notice. Extreme jobs must be filled strictly-for the good of all. I would imagine they wanted him to sign a waiver in case he got stuck in a messy job and died cause he couldn’t get to the meds-
May 29th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Medical requirements are very important in some jobs. If you physically cannot do it than you can t do the job. The same goes for language. If your language is only English, than you can be turned down for a bilingual job, the same way if you have a very bad heart condition, I imagine you would not be able to chase criminals in your police car. What is it now, you can discriminate with language but you can t with you medical condition.
June 5th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
diabetes is easily manage… have some insulin shots and it’s done!