Sleep Apnea Causes Teacher to Fall Asleep During Class

Robert Singer, a teacher’s aide at Braden River Middle School, will be fired for falling asleep during work hours, despite the district’s knowledge that Singer suffers from a sleep disorder called sleep apnea. Excessive daytime sleepiness caused by sleep apnea made Singer likely to fall asleep while supervising his students and during staff meetings, said school authorities.

Lawyers in the area specializing in employment law said that Singer’s medical condition should is considered a disability. Accordingly, they stated that Singer should be protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act. If the school district lets him go, it might also be in violation of Singer’s privacy rights after publishing an investigative report on the district’s website outlining the details of Singer’s sleep apnea.

Singer started working at the school district since the fall of 2007. He stated that he planned to challenge the district’s decision to fire him and already filed a request for an administrative hearing to tell his side of the story to a judge. Singer said that his sleep apnea is a medical issue and that there should be definitive structures in place for district employees who are affected by it. He indicated that employees ridden with sleep apnea who make an effort to stay with a treatment plan should be protected him unfair termination.

Singer was reprimanded in writing for his sleepiness on two prior occasions, in 2010 and 2011. In February of last year he was suspended from working for a total of 10 days as punishment for falling asleep again. While he was suspended he was not paid and upon his return he was assigned to positions that isolated him from students. Singer said that it was during this time that sleep doctors diagnosed him with severe sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is a widely under diagnosed sleep disorder. Patients with sleep apnea cannot breathe regularly while they sleep because of blockages in their airway passages or the ability of the throat muscles to relax. The obstruction can get so extreme sometimes that the patient stops breathing completely, sometimes for nearly a minute, only to gasp and choke for air before he passes out. Prolonged sleep apnea prevents sleepers from attaining good-quality, restorative sleep, said sleep doctors at the Mayo Clinic. Given the disruption of deep sleep at night, the sleep apnea patient is likely sluggish and exhausted during day time hours. Sleep apnea also puts patients at higher risk of other ailments like hypertension, heart disease and diabetes.

After being diagnosed with severe sleep apnea after a polysomnography sleep study test, Singer started traditional CPAP therapy, which provides pressurized air directly into the mouth in order to keep the airways open at night. CPAP can prevent sleep apnea episodes, called apneas and hypopneas, as well as other symptoms of sleep apnea such as snoring. The school district reported that because Singer had been on CPAP he was allowed to keep working but sleep apnea treatment turned out to be ineffective for the teacher’s aide.

According to the district’s report, middle school officials monitored Singer during a detention shift with a hidden camera. On film one can see Singer sleeping at his desk in from of a classroom of suspended students for almost half an hour. The district presented Singer with the film and said that it was evidence giving reason to fire him. His superiors asked for his willing resignation, or else threatened to subject him to formal investigation.

Instead of immediately accepting the district’s terms, Singer embarked on a mission to figure out whether his sleep apnea was considered a disability. He took paid sick days from November 22 to December 8, but had to relinquish pay from December 8 to January 13. During this time, the school district offered Singer employment monitoring the school buses, but Singer refused because he said that he had a tendency to fall asleep while riding vehicles.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act employers are required to accommodate disabled workers, including employees with severe sleep apnea, said Kendra Presswood, a lawyer from Tampa. Other attorneys have stood by Singer’s side of the story, insisting that the school district is bound by law to develop a solution that would allow Singer to continue working.

Assistant District Superintendent, Scott Martin, said that Singer’s sleeping habits affected his ability to supervise and monitor student activities and to perform his job adequately. Martin said that Singer was a risk to student safety. He also stated that the school district believed it was within the confines of the law to fire him. Singer has since expressed desire to be reinstated as a teacher’s liaison, in a position of employment that would require him to move around physically and stay on his feet to minimize the risk of falling asleep during shifts. He is still under treatment for his severe sleep apnea.

For more information about obstructive sleep apnea, please contact a sleep center.