There is a dearth of scholarly inquiry into the causes and maintenance factors of employee burnout during transformational organizational change. The purpose of this study was to develop a theory that described the emergence and maintenance of burnout during organizational change. A multidisciplinary conceptual framework encompassed socioculturalism, burnout, change management, and the physiological effects of stress. The two research questions focused on causal and maintenance factors of employee burnout, including individual and physical reactions to organizational actions associated with the change. Using grounded theory, data were gathered through in-depth interviews in a theoretical sample of 14 participants who burned out during organizational change at a U.S. company. Broad open codes arising from the interview transcripts were refined into theoretical, conceptual codes that described the phenomena. Analysis of these codes resulted in three discoveries. First, the emergence and maintenance of burnout was due to a mutually reinforcing triumvirate of psychological, organizational, and physiological responses during the change initiative. Second, residual burnout was introduced to describe the long-term after effects of burnout arising from organizational change. Third, the Burnout During Organizational Change (B DOC) model graphically represented this demise into and recovery from burnout during transformational change. Implications for positive social change include reasonable accommodation for burnout's psychological and physiological dimensions under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); ADA compliance would thus transform management practices by requiring incorporation of burnout mitigation policies into all aspects of organizational strategy and operations.