Reasonable Accommodation (RA) is an adjustment to a job or work environment which enables an employee with a disability to perform the duties of the position.
An accommodation is a tool, provided by the employer, to help employees with disabilities to do their jobs, just as an employer provides the means for all employees to accomplish their jobs. For example, employees are provided with desks, chairs, phones, and computers. An employee who is blind or who has a visual impairment may require computer software which operates by voice command or which provides enlarged print.
RA options may include: making the work environment accessible, job restructuring, acquiring or modifying equipment, adjusted work schedules, modified workplace policies, telework, providing personal assistants (e.g., a reader for a blind individual or an interpreter for a deaf individual), along with a whole range of other creative solutions. Reassignment is the final accommodation option and is considered when it has been determined that there is no reasonable accommodation available which would permit the individual to remain in the current position.
Reasonable Accommodations are adjustments or modifications which range from making the physical work environment accessible to restructuring a job, providing assistive equipment, providing certain types of personal assistants (e.g., a reader for a person who is blind, an interpreter for a person who is deaf), transferring an employee to a different job or location, or providing flexible scheduling.
Reasonable accommodations are tools provided by employers to enable employees with disabilities to do their jobs, just as the employer provides the means for all employees to accomplish their jobs. For example, employees are provided with desks, chairs, phones, and computers. An employee who is blind or who has a visual impairment might need a compute, which operates by voice command or has a screen that enlarges print.
(From the President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities).
This legal term is defined in the ADA as an action requiring significant difficulty or expense for the business/employer, considering the following factors:
The nature and cost of the proposed accommodation, the overall financial resources of the business and the effect of the accommodation upon expenses and resources, the impact of the accommodation upon the operation of the facility, the violation of seniority provisions of a collective bargaining agreement, or the failure to eliminate or reduce a direct threat or harm to self or others.
Whenever an employee requests an adjustment or change at work related to a medical condition, the employee has entered the Reasonable Accommodation process. That initial request may be verbal or written and the term "Reasonable Accommodation" does not have to be used. As an example, the employee might say to the supervisor, "I'm having trouble getting to work at my scheduled starting time because of medical treatments I'm undergoing." That employee has just asked for reasonable accommodation. Once the employee initiates the request (verbal or written), the Reasonable Accommodation process has begun. The RA Request Form is filled out, and signed by the employee requesting RA. The signed form is then submitted to the first level supervisor and/or Reasonable Accommodation Program manager.
Next, the Reasonable Accommodation Advisory Team meets to review the request. The Team consists of the RA Program Manager, 1st (and sometimes 2nd) level supervisor, a member from HR, and a member from Agency Counsel (and sometimes a medical professional). Additionally, the employee requesting RA is invited to attend a portion of this first meeting to provide input.
Medical documentation specific to the employee’s disclosed limitations is requested, when necessary, and once the medical documentation is received, the Reasonable Accommodation Advisory Team meets again to determine if the employee is a qualified person with a disability and what accommodation might be granted.
Reassignment is the reasonable accommodation of last resort and is considered only after it has been determined that there are no effective accommodations to perform the essential functions of his/her current position, or all other accommodations would impose an undue hardship or pose a threat to the employee’s or others’ safety. RA Federal Jobs.
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