Americans with Disabilities Act
Living with a disability is one of the most difficult things a person can experience, and it can make it challenging to accomplish particular processes you are responsible for performing at your job. Your condition may require some reasonable accommodations to be made to make your job duties manageable. This is where the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) can offer you benefits that can improve your life.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) exists to help people with disabilities continue to work, but it also enables them to seek new employment. Because of this act, employers are not permitted to discriminate against anyone based on their disabilities. They must consider accommodating their disabled employees so they can continue to do the essential functions required of them unless it would make it an excessive difficulty for the business.
Reasonable Accommodations: Definitions Under the Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act demands that businesses make changes in their company’s work environment so that people with disabilities can participate in employment opportunities. Employers may not question an employee’s disability. They can approach the employee about suggestions they could entertain to make performing the essential functions of their job easier.
A reasonable accommodation so that a disabled person may do their job is based on several things that are listed below:
- The demands of the job
- The number of employees at the business or company
- The financial costs associated with implementing reasonable accommodations
- How customers and vendors may react to the changes
- Incorporating physical accommodations into unique physical environments
The accommodation must help the person with the disability without creating an unfair and unjust hardship for the employer. Some examples of “reasonable accommodations” might include the following:
- Job replacement or relocation
- Allowing employees to have additional time off
- Altering equipment to make it accessible to the employee
- Changing work schedules to help the employee perform their job duties
- Structural alterations to make the workspace more amenable to the employee
Accommodations will be considered based on what needs to be done so that the employee’s specific disability and job can be assessed. Many accommodations focus on what can be done to make the workplace more accessible and the jobs easier to perform.
However, workplace accommodations do not end there. Suppose your disability requires the employee to visit their healthcare provider regularly. The employer may be directed to approve time off for the employee.
Specific Accommodations Are Not Considered Reasonable
What accommodations are considered reasonable can be confusing to employers and employees. If the disabled employee’s co-workers are burdened because of the accommodations, or if the work space is unsafe for the coworkers, the accommodations would not be considered reasonable.
Contact ADA Law Group to Ensure Your Legal Rights are Protected
If you are an employee with a disability who suspects your rights are being violated, ADA Law Group has the understanding and legal experience with the ADA and those discriminating against those protected by it to help. Contact us today so that we can answer questions about reasonable accommodations if you have a disability that qualifies you for them and how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) process can help you. Our skilled legal team can inform you of your legal rights, and we will help you navigate the legal complications you may face when attempting to enforce those rights.