Reasonable Accommodation Within Your Business
After the huge response from our April 2013 newsletter where I threw out the challenge to help us increase and improve our FAQ page on our website, I received questions ranging from pool lift requirements to lease agreement provisions.
Thank you for responding and helping us to improve our FAQ!
Interestingly, many of you asked various questions regarding reasonable accommodations for disabled employees. Just so we are clear, here's the disclaimer: I am not an employment lawyer nor am I a Human Resources guru, but I do work side by side with many of these professionals as we go through this process below.
Talk to any employment lawyer and they will say that “reasonable accommodation” within your business can be a nightmare if not handled properly.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), requires all employers to provide an open line of communication with a disabled employee to determine a proper reasonable accommodation.This 5-point checklist assists employers in the process of dealing with accommodation requests.
Create consistent procedures. Train employees on what to do when they receive an accommodation request. Employer should provide clear direction when handling such requests.
Don't ignore the request. The employer should immediately create an open line of communication as soon as they learn that an employee has a disability and is requesting special accommodation. Let the employee know that the company provides reasonable accommodation to disabled employees and that the company takes this seriously. Get it in writing.Tell the employee it is their responsibility to request an accommodation in writing.
Provide a clear job description. Only a clear and detailed job description identifying the essential job functions will allow the employer to determine whether this reasonable accommodation would enable the employee to perform the required tasks.
Talk with your employee. First, identify what the special need is and discuss their specific limitations and needs. Get input from the employee about what type of accommodation will be most effective.
Talk to an expert. After identifying the employee’s specific limitations, the employer should determine what would constitute a reasonable accommodation. Some employers provide modified workstations, phones or equipment. Some restructure specific job duties, provide time off or modify their work schedule.
If a reasonable accommodation cannot be provided quickly and without much difficulty then the employer should seek the advice of a knowledgeable employment attorney.
The entire topic of employment “reasonable accommodation” can be very confusing and adopting a strong policy for handling accommodation requests and keeping detailed records of the employer’s efforts should be priority one.The majority of my experiences when designing the specific modifications being made through an accommodation request has turned out very well and worked out positively for both parties.