How far do “reasonable accommodations” have to go for a disabled worker?
Posted: July 8th, 2011 | Author: admin | Filed under: Travel For Disabled | Tags: Accommodations, disabled, reasonable, worker | 3 Comments »I have a coworker who is in a wheel chair & suffers from chronic pain. The pain/condition causes him to be unreliable at work. Such as, he can’t seem to arrive by the time set by our boss & is always at least 2 hours late, or will sometimes not show up at all and sometimes not even call to say he won’t be in. If he hasn’t made it in to do his work, everyone else in the department has to cover for him. He receives a full time salary, including vacation time, but hasn’t worked more than 3 or 4 days (25 hours a week tops) in the last 2 years. As a coworker who is held responsible for my actions, I feel like it’s almost discriminatory in a way, how the disabled coworker is favored.
What exactly are “reasonable accommodations” beyond making sure he has access to the building, restrooms, equipment, etc? Is it horribly selfish of me to feel like I’m getting treated unfairly?
Please don’t think I’m being mean – I feel really horrible for what he has to suffer through everyday, but I kind of feel like he has a commitment to work a full time job, that he just can’t meet because of his condition & all the other coworkers are suffering for it.
I think your employer misunderstands the concept of reasonable accommodation.
Arriving late is a reasonable accommodation, but than you make up the time by staying late, coming in an extra day, or making up the work at home.
Not showing up and not calling in should be the exception rather than the rule. Yes, it can be understood that on occasion a call in is problematic, but not as a regular course of action.
A reasonable accommodation can be to restructure a job so that it doesn’t include specific job tasks – like the person in the chair does all the work on the botton shelf and the able-bodied person does all the work on the top and they share what is in the middle.
A reasonable accommodation can be to extend a break or lunch time by 10 minutes because the person has to go a longer accessible route to get to the break room.
A reasonable accommodation can be to allow lateness because the bus service isn’t consistent.
A reasonable accommodation can be the person has to take a break every 2 hours and walk around the building because of blood clot risks.
A reasonable accommodation can be the person needs to be in an office where they can close the door versus a cubicle because of multiple chemical sensitivities.
It is not a reasonable accommodation to expect that an employee does not do reasonably close to the same amount of work as everyone else does,
Teddy gave a very good answer, so I’ll just give my 2 cents worth.
Reasonable accommodation allows an employee to do his or her job at the same level as any other employee. If that isn’t happening, then reasonable accommodation isn’t being done (whether it’s not enough or way too much). While reasonable accommodation may include co-workers doing a bit more of one thing (like at Home Depot where people who use wheelchairs are not expected to climb ladders, so their AB co-workers do a bit more of that), it is off-set by the disabled employee doing a bit more of something else. Work should be fairly distributed.
I think you have valid concerns. If you and the other employees are constantly working overtime to pick up the slack, it’s time to have a serious talk with your manager and put a stop to it. However, if you aren’t picking up the slack, you can be a bit peeved, but you have no say in the issue. The arrangement is between him and the manager (or whoever else).
reasonable is allowing the person to work a part time schedule at a part time rate and allowing a flexible schedule. And since there is a significant amount of work missed, they should hire another part time employee. they can reassign SOME work to you and others, but not a large portion….they could still allow him vacation pay–at part time rate.
He could be allowed to take extra time off—without pay–or given a short period (maybe 15 minutes on occasion that is forgiven
of course they can pay him full time–they .
accommodations are much more than physical access—depending on the disability..it could be flexible schedule, extra breaks, written instructions and extra reminders, air conditioning, perfume free environment and many more possibilities.
they are allowed to treat him like royalty–but they don’t have to—and they shouldn’t do it at others expense
the person with the disability must be able to do the ESSENTIAL functions of the job