Terminating the Employment Relationship

For example:

An otherwise qualified individual with a disability who experiences limitations in concentration may request more detailed day-to-day guidance, feedback, or structure in order to perform his job. An employee requests more daily guidance and feedback as a reasonable accommodation for limitations associated with a psychiatric disability. In response to his request, the employer consults with the employee, his health care professional, and his supervisor about how his limitations are manifested in the office (the employee is unable to stay focused on the steps necessary to complete large projects) and how to make effective and practical changes to provide the structure he needs. As a result of these consultations, the supervisor and employee work out a long-term plan to initiate weekly meetings to review the status of large projects and identify which steps need to be taken next. xii. Providing a Job Coach 121 According to the EEOC, an employer may also be required, as a reasonable accommodation, to provide a temporary job coach to assist in the training of a qualified individual with a disability, barring undue hardship. A job coach is a professional who assists individuals with severe disabilities with job placement and job training. A reasonable accommodation may include allowing a job coach paid by a public or private social service agency to accompany a disabled employee at the job site. xiii. Leaves of Absence Relying on federal case law, California courts have indicated that under FEHA, a leave of absence may properly fall under the definition of reasonable accommodation especially where it would be successful in rehabilitating an employee well enough to the extent that they can return to work. 122 The Ninth Circuit held that “[a]s long as a reasonable accommodation available to the employer could have plausibly enabled a handicapped employee to adequately perform his job, an employer is liable for failing to attempt that accommodation.” 123 That Court went on to rule that a limited, finite leave of absence is a reasonable accommodation under the ADA as long as it gives the employee sufficient time to recover to be able to return to work and perform his or her work duties. 124 Conversely, the First Circuit Court of Appeals held that the ADA can require an employer to grant leave that is longer than ordinary internal policy would permit if it is necessary to adequately rehabilitate the disabled employee. 125 c. Reasonable Accommodation Does Not Entail Lowering or Significantly Altering Standards or Requirements Courts have held that under the Rehabilitation Act, a reasonable accommodation does not entail lowering standards or requirements in connection with qualifying for a position. In one case, the court held that a university was not required to admit an applicant to its nursing school where to do so would lower or substantially modify its admission standards. 126 The employer has the right to set its minimum qualification standards and it is not the court’s job to establish minimum standards for employees. 127 The only limitation is that the standards must be job-related and consistent with business necessity.

Terminating the Employment Relationship ©2019 (s) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 48