Reasonable Accommodation
Definition
If an employee has prolonged or permanent disabilities that impair the employee’s ability to perform his/her job, an effort must be made to provide accommodation to enable the employee to work in a modified capacity or change to a more suitable position. In this way, the University can keep valued, experienced and trained employees, while complying with our obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Employment and Housing Act.
Application
The department should engage an employee in an interactive process to evaluate whether job modifications can be made which enable the employee to continue to perform the essential functions of the job when:
- An employee is out for a prolonged disability leave;
- An employee discloses that s/he has a disability impacting his/her job;
- An employee provides medical information describing prolonged or permanent impairments.
In addressing a Reasonable Accommodation request, it is imperative that an interactive process and exchange take place between the supervisor and employee. During this interactive process, the parties will discuss whether or not accommodations are necessary for the employee to be able to perform the essential functions of the job. Accommodations must be made on a case-by-case basis, but could include job restructuring, initiating part-time or modified work schedules, and providing assistive devices.
When a Reasonable Accommodation is needed, please contact Disability Management Services to facilitate this interactive process.
It is important to note that accommodations are based on the unique needs of the employee’s disability and the necessity to perform the essential functions of the job and not necessarily on the employee’s preferences. On the other hand, if reasonable, primary consideration should be given to the employee’s preferences. The department does have the discretion to select between equally effective accommodations in terms of cost and ease of implementation.
If the interactive process is thorough and complete, yet concludes that the employee cannot be reasonably accommodated within the department, the employee can then participate in the Priority Reassignment process. Please see the Priority Reassignment section for further details.
Supervisor’s Checklist
- Please contact Disability Management Services or Labor and Employee Relations to request Reasonable Accommodation assistance if an employee provides notice of the following:
- Permanent or prolonged impairments that may impact the employee’s ability to do his/her job;
- The need for medical leave extending beyond 4 to 6 months;
- A request for accommodation.
- As a supervisor, in order to fully engage the interactive process to evaluate reasonable accommodations, you will be asked to:
- Identify and/or validate the essential functions of the job;
- Engage in open consideration of potential modifications or re-assignment to more suitable open positions.