Reasonable Accommodation is defined as changes or adjustments in a work site or job that make it possible for an otherwise qualified employee with a disability to perform the duties or tasks required.
Before the Americans with Disabilities Amendment Act (ADAAA), liability had been in favor of the employer. Since the ADAAA took effect, companies need to have a focus on accommodation vs. the definition of disability.
It’s important for companies to have a process in place. In a recent survey, 50% of respondents said that they did not have a documented process in place for Accommodation. The ADAAA now looks not only to employees, but candidates as well.
Here are 12 Tips to Handling Liability and the ADAAA:
- Companies need to show they have processes to make individual assessments of employees’ qualifications with or without accommodations
- You should provide training to HR, managers, and supervisors to remind managers of their duty to accommodate not only employees with disabilities, but also applicants with disabilities
- Make sure you have an Accommodations Process in place
- Re-evaluate policies to make sure that they are with in ADAAA compliance, especially in the application and interactive processes
- Make sure that job descriptions accurately describe what employers believe are the essential functions of the position
- Employers are put to the test to evaluate employees one by one
- Develop internal protocols on how to approach situations
- Develop tools, forms, letters and processes to handle accommodation requests
- Companies may want to outsource to a third party, like HirePotential, to assess and implement the process
- Procure certain types of assistive technology
- Develop protocols, procedures and accessibility guidelines for the IT department
- BE PROACTIVE, not REACTIVE
If these things are not implemented within an organization, the liability is much greater now than ever before.