Disability and HR: Guidelines for Human Resource Professionals

Disability and HR:Guidelines for Human Resource Professionals Presented to CSX Transportation June 29, 2010 By: Nancy Hanisch-Boutot Agency for Persons with Disabilities nancy_hanisch@apd.state.fl.us

Disability 101 • ADA, reasonable accommodations, EEOC best practices • Recruiting People with Disabilities • Disclosure of a Disability • Interviewing Methods • Hiring Considerations

Test your Knowledge! 1. Essential job functions are those tasks that an employee must be able to perform without reasonable accommodations. • True • False

Answer: False 1. According to the EEOC, essential job functions are the basic job duties that an employee must be able to perform, with or without reasonable accommodations.

Reasonable Accommodations A request for a reasonable accommodation can occur at any time: before, during or after a job interview, after a conditional offer of employment is made, once an employee has begun working, or on returning to work by a person with a disability. Examples of reasonable accommodations include:

Reasonable Accommodations p. 2 • Adjusting or modifying examinations, training materials, or policies • Acquiring or modifying equipment or devices (assistive technology) • Job restructuring • Part-time or modified work schedules • Reassignment to vacant positions • Providing readers or interpreters

Test Your Knowledge! 2. An employer may discharge an employee who is temporarily unable to work because of a disability-related occupational injury. • True • False

Answer: False 2. According to the EEOC, an employee may not be discharged who is temporarily unable to work because of a disability-related injury. Instead, a reasonable accommodation would be that the employee be allowed a temporary leave of absence unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employer

Test Your Knowledge 3. Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act is about: • A. Public Services • B. Telecommunications • C. Public Accommodations • D. Employment • E. Miscellaneous

Answer: D. Employment 3. Employment is Title I of the ADA. Businesses must provide reasonable accommodations to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities in all aspects of employment. Possible changes may include restructuring jobs, altering the layout of workstations, or modifying equipment. Employment aspects may include the application process, hiring, wages, benefits, and anything else related to being employed.

Test Your Knowledge! 4. Ruth has a son with autism. An HR manager of a large manufacturing company chooses not to hire Ruth for a clerical position because she believes that Ruth will miss too many days of work having to meet with school and health professionals. Ruth does not have a disability. The HR manager’s decision violates the ADA. • True • False

Answer: True 4. The ADA applies to people who are associated with people who have disabilities.

Test Your Knowledge! 5. An employer must remodel their meeting rooms to make them physically accessible to job applicants who may come in for interviews. • True • False

Answer: False 5. Employers may choose to make their meeting rooms physically accessible, and are encouraged to do so. However, often physical alterations are too burdensome for a business. Employers may provide alternative accommodations, including conducting interviews in a separate, accessible location if a job applicant requests accommodations because of architectural barriers

Test Your Knowledge! 6. An individual with a mobility impairment wants to apply for a receptionist job. Applications are available from the employer’s employment offices. However, the employment offices are located on the third floor of a building without an elevator. When the applicant calls to request an application and mentions that he is not able to come to the employment offices because they are not accessible, the employer should…

6- continued • A. Tell the applicant that he must come to pick up the application at the employment office. • B. Ask the applicant how he would like to receive the application. Offer to mail the application, suggest leaving it in a first-floor office in the building, which is accessible, and inform the applicant where the form is located on the business’s website. • C. Offer to mail the application to the applicant. • D. Offer to leave the application at the door of the building, which can be reached by a wheelchair. • E. Tell the applicant the location of the document on the business’s website.

Answer: B is the best solution By asking the applicant how it would be best to get the application to him, the employer is recognizing the need for an accommodation and allowing the applicant to choose the accommodation that would best meet his needs. The applicant would need to decide if he has time to receive a copy by mail and submit it before the deadline, whether he can access the first-floor office, or whether he has a computer and can access the application from the company’s website. If none of these accommodations meets the applicant’s needs, he may be able to suggest other possibilities.

Test Your Knowledge! 7. An applicant with a disability is required to disclose that he or she has a disability. • True • False

Answer: False 7. An applicant is not required to disclose that he has a disability. However, if the applicant requests an accommodation because of a disability, the applicant must disclose that he has a disability, and the employer may require documentation as proof of the disability.

Test Your Knowledge! 8. Abby applies for a job as a medical transcriptionist. Abby is obese. During the interview, the employer can ask whether she has diabetes or any health conditions. • True • False

Answer: False 8. Asking about health conditions would likely reveal a disability or impairment. If the employer were to make Abby a job offer, he could ask about health conditions as long as he asks the same questions of all other applicants who are offered medical transcriptionist positions.

Test Your Knowledge! 9. Jack is interviewing for a position in a stockroom. Which of the following questions can an interviewer ask? A. How many sick days did you take last year at your last job? B. Have you ever received worker’s compensation? C. How many days were you absent last year from your last job? D. Can you lift boxes weighing up to 10 lbs and place them on shelves above your head?

Answer: C or D 9. D is correct, if lifting boxes up to 10 lbs. and placing them on shelves above the applicant’s head is an essential function of the job. Also, C is correct. An employer may ask an applicant about their attendance at previous jobs because attendance at the job is likely an essential function of any job. Attendance questions are not specific to disabilities; there are many reasons other than a disability why an employee might be absent.

Test Your Knowledge! 10. While interviewing for a job as a bus driver, Peggy volunteers that she has a prosthetic leg. The employer may ask Peggy if she will need any accommodations to perform the essential job function of driving the bus. • True • False

Answer: True 10. By volunteering the fact that she has a prosthetic leg, Peggy has made the employer aware that she has a disability. Because buses are usually driven using two feet/legs, the employer has a valid question as to whether Peggy will need an accommodation (e.g., a special bus that uses hand mechanisms instead of foot pedals). Peggy should be prepared to respond to the employer’s inquiry.

Test Your Knowledge! 11. An individual who uses a wheelchair applies for a research position. An essential function of the research position is to present at a research conference in a nearby city. Typically, the researchers drive a company car to the conference. The employer can ask whether the applicant has a valid driver’s license and is, therefore, able to drive the company car. • True • False

Answer: False 11. The essential function is to present at the conference. How the applicant would get to the conference is irrelevant. The employer may ask whether the applicant will be able to present at the conference. This allows the applicant to respond and describe or ask what options are available for travel.

Test Your Knowledge! 12. An employer is hiring a file clerk. Matt, who has a hearing impairment, applies for the job. At the beginning of the interview, Matt tells the employer that he has a hearing impairment and asks the interviewer to look at him when asking questions. An essential function of the file clerk job is to retrieve files for other employees. These employees telephone the file clerk with their request. The file clerk locates the file and sends it to the requester. The employer is concerned that Matt may not be able to communicate with the requesters over the telephone. During the interview, the employer may ask Matt to demonstrate how he would respond over the telephone?

Answer: True 12. The employer is aware of Matt’s disability. The employer has the right to ask the applicant to demonstrate or explain how he would perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodations. Communicating requests and retrieving files are essential functions. Matt should be prepared to demonstrate his ability to communicate over the telephone, or to discuss a reasonable accommodation such as having another file clerk take the telephone requests while he takes walk-in requests or using an email system rather than the telephone.

Test Your Knowledge! 13. An airline company may refuse to hire an individual with a disability who meets all the essential job functions of the position because: A. The employer believes disabled individuals are prone to more accidents in the workplace. B. The employer has been informed by medical advisors that the individual’s disability could cause an unsafe situation in the airplane while it is airborne. C. The employer has been informed that the individual’s disability will slightly slow down drink service while the plane is airborne. D. The employer has experience with individuals with disabilities having a bad work ethic.

Answer: B 13. The employer has an objective, medically supportable risk that could cause substantial harm to the applicant, coworkers, and passengers on the plane.

Test Your Knowledge! 14. Current, illegal drug use is not covered under the ADA. Which of the following questions are illegal? • "Have you ever been addicted to drugs?" • "Have you ever been treated for drug addiction?" • "Have you ever been treated for drug abuse?"

Answer: All of them! 14. Although current illegal drug use is not a covered disability under the ADA, pastaddiction to illegal drugs or controlled substances is a covered disability under the ADA. Therefore, employers may ask about current illegal drug use only. Employers should refrain from asking about past illegal drug use that might elicit information about past addiction to illegal drugs.

Test Your Knowledge! 15. An employer may ask an applicant to self-identify as a person with a disability for the purposes of an affirmative action initiative if the employer is undertaking the initiative on behalf of individuals with disabilities as a requirement of a federal, state or local law. • True • False

Answer: True 15. The employer must: • Include a clear statement on written materials or orally (if written materials are not used) that the information is being requested solely for the use of the affirmative action initiative • State that the obligation to provide information is voluntary and any refusal to provide the information will not result in adverse treatment • State that the information will be kept confidential in accordance with the ADA.

Thank You! • Questions? • Comments?

Disability and HR: Guidelines for Human Resource Professionals