An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 9 – Interactive Process: Employees and Students

focus for students is on classes, programs, and activities. Section 3 of this chapter discusses how a school should work with students and their parents to identify reasonable accommodations that provide qualified disabled students with the opportunity to participate in the school’s educational programs.

Section 2 D ISABLED E MPLOYEES : T HE I NTERACTIVE P ROCESS A ND D ETERMINING R EASONABLE A CCOMMODATIONS A. W HEN I S A N E MPLOYEE A Q UALIFIED I NDIVIDUAL W ITH A D ISABILITY U NDER T HE ADA A ND FEHA? The American with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) prohibits discrimination against a “qualified individual with a disability.” 1453 A qualified individual under the ADA is a person with a disability who—with or without reasonable accommodation—can perform the essential functions of the job. 1454 The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) also prohibits discrimination against “a qualified individual with a disability.” 1455 The FEHA regulations define “qualified individual” as an applicant or employee who has the requisite skill, experience, education, and other job-related requirements of the job and who can perform its essential functions with or without reasonable accommodation. 1456 A school is required to provide a reasonable accommodation to a qualified disabled employee. This duty is subject to the limitations that the school may assert if it is unable to accommodate an employee due to an undue hardship or threat to the health and safety of the subject employee or to others. 1. Q UALIFIED I NDIVIDUAL Under both the ADA and the FEHA, the employer has the right to choose and retain only qualified workers so long as the qualifications are job-related and consistent with business necessity (that is, reasonable accommodation of the individual with a disability is not possible, reasonable accommodation of the individual creates an undue hardship, or the individual poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others in the workplace.) 1457 Determining whether an individual with a disability is qualified for a particular position is a two- step process:  Determining if the individual has the prerequisites for the position (such as educational background, skills, licenses, etc.), and

 Determining whether the individual can perform the essential functions of the position held or desired, with or without reasonable accommodation.

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 331