When one of your employees has a documented disability, your practice is required to make reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) so that individual can continue their job. While the process of finding a workable solution typically goes pretty smoothly, there may come a time when an employee rejects an accommodation you’ve proposed.
This may leave you wondering: Just what kind of recourse does your practice have? You know you must comply with the law, but your employee is stonewalling you at every turn.
To protect your practice from ADA complaints and potential legal action, it’s important that you have a plan in the event that an employee rejects your reasonable accommodation recommendations.
Begin with Open Communication
You know the requirements of each of your staff positions well, and your employee knows the limits of their disability. In order to find the most mutually beneficial solution that keeps the individual in their position at your practice, you must maintain open communication throughout the entire process.
Whether you’re onboarding a new employee who has a disability, or you’ve got a long-time team member with a newly diagnosed issue, maintaining communication about what options may or may not work early in the process is key. If you don’t talk with your employee and attempt to determine accommodations that will work for their disability while allowing them to complete the essential functions of the job, you can’t act surprised when the employee rejects your proposal.
As you meet with a staff member that qualifies for an ADA accommodation, take careful notes of all of their ideas. Specifically, be sure to clearly document what accommodations they say will work, their limitations, and any other factors. This way, if the employee comes back later and rejects your reasonable accommodation proposal, you’ve got a record of them previously stating that option would work for them.
Note: Be sure to keep these notes in the employee’s personnel file, along with any other communications regardless of their format (i.e., emails, letters, even voicemail messages should be saved, etc.).
Talk to Supervisors
If you are not involved in the employee’s everyday tasks, it will be more difficult for you to come up with viable accommodations. Accordingly, it can be helpful to also to speak with their supervisor (if they have one).
You can either involve the supervisor in meetings with the employee or, if scheduling is an issue, hold separate discussions. Either way, treat your discussions with the supervisor the same as with your employee – document everything so there aren’t any questions later on in the process.
Bring in Help
Should your employee outright reject the chosen reasonable accommodation you are recommending, it can be sometimes difficult to come to an agreement without some additional input. Accordingly, you may need to bring in a third party, such as an occupational expert, to mediate the discussion.
This expert can help find a reasonable accommodation that works for everyone – meets the employee’s needs, allows them to do the essential functions of their job, and isn’t overly burdensome to your practice. Again, document this process carefully in case you need to refer to anything that was discussed later.
Get a Signature
While it is rare, sometimes employees dig their heels in and insist that only certain accommodations will work for them, regardless of whether they’re reasonable for your practice or not. When this happens, it should be a red flag that indicates that an ADA complaint may be coming.
In these cases, the ADA states that you are legally within your rights to refuse the employee’s demands. Should this happen, it is important that your document clearly spells out the situation. Here are specifics to include:
- The accommodations you proposed
- The accommodations the employee is requesting
- The reasons these accommodations cannot be provided (too financially burdensome, require changing essential job functions, etc.)
It’s a good idea to have this document reviewed by an attorney to ensure you’ve covered your bases before you present to your staff member to sign. Once it’s approved, have the employee sign saying they’re rejecting the accommodations you’ve proposed, and then sign the document yourself.
This protects you in the event that the employee makes an ADA complaint. You can present the signed document, along with your notes from your meetings, showing that you worked to find a reasonable accommodation but were unable to come to an agreement.
Complying with the ADA can be tricky, especially if you’re struggling to find common ground on reasonable accommodations with your employee. That’s where Healthcare Training Leader’s online training session, New EEOC Reasonable Accommodation Rule: Comply or Get Penalized can help. In this 60-minute session, you’ll get clear, practical advice to help you respond to employee reasonable accommodation requests and comply with the law. Access this training today.
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