Do you use job descriptions when deciding on what accommodation – if any – can be offered to an employee with a disability? To meet your ADA requirements, it’s important to use the interactive process outlined in ADA regulations and to use job descriptions as an essential part of the process.
ADA Requirements: What Accommodation is Needed?
The interactive process is an interaction between the employer and the employee to determine if the employee can perform the essential functions of the job, with or without an accommodation. If an accommodation is needed, the interactive process then seeks to determine what sort of accommodation could be made. In this process, be sure to use both the job description and any medical information provided. Here are some questions you can ask:
- How do any limitations affect the employee’s ability to perform particular tasks? "This is going to help you determine whether or not you’ve got some potential accommodation," Sharoyn Whiting-Ralston told us in a recent BLR webinar.
- Are these particular tasks really essential functions of the job, or are they something that can be easily given to someone else? Having a job description that clearly outlines the essential functions will be a great benefit.
- How does the limitation (and the potential accommodations that may be required) impact the employer’s operations? In other words, look past how the individual job is affected and assess how the situation will impact the employer overall. "Part of your responsibility is to provide an accommodation, but you don’t have to provide an accommodation if it’s unreasonable." Whiting-Ralston explained. "Look at how that limitation or the potential accommodation is going to impact the operations."
- Are there any reasonable accommodations? Bear in mind that a reasonable accommodation may even be a different role in some cases. "Is there someplace that person can be moved where the job descriptions are somewhat similar and that might be a possibility?" Whiting-Ralston asked.
When you start asking these questions and making these kinds of decisions you have a few options that will allow you to meet your ADA requirements. The interactive process may lead to:
- a job modification as an accommodation
- a new role for the affected employee
- a medical leave of absence
- a termination from employment
These are tough decisions and they’re decisions that you could potentially be challenged on by the employee – or perhaps a jury or the EEOC. Having an accurate job description that supports your decision and having documentation of the interactive process will make or break your ability to defend against claims of discrimination or unfair treatment.
For more information on effectively using job descriptions to make accommodation decisions and meet ADA requirements, order the webinar recording of "ADA-Safe Job Descriptions: HR’s How-To for Defining Essential Functions." To register for a future webinar, visit http://catalog.blr.com/audio.
Attorney Sharolyn Whiting-Ralston, also of McAfee & Taft, is a trial lawyer whose practice is primarily focused on labor and employment law and general civil and business litigation.