What is considered a violation of the ADA regarding reasonable accommodations?
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What is considered a violation of the ADA regarding reasonable accommodations?
I was hired for a new job i started last night after not working for 6 1/2 months. I
was told that I would only be working 2 shifts per week until another employee leaves at the end of October. Yesterday morning the manager who hired me called and said that the employee would be now be leaving on October 13th. She said she wanted to start me training on that shift right away. I agreed to work that night on that shift. What I wasn’t expecting was that she put me on the schedule for training 5 days next week. When she came in, I tried explaining to her that it would be hard for me to go from not working to working 5 days a week. I asked that I work only 3 days the following week and she cut me off and said,
Asked on September 17, 2016 under Employment Labor Law, Pennsylvania
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
First, you have to have medically documented and proven disabilities to be entitled to an accommodation.
Second, the accommodation you request must be necessary, given the disabilities, for you to do the job--so a doctor must basically say how your disability requires this accommodation.
Third, and most signficantly: being allowed to work less than full time is NOT a reasonable accommodation. A reasonable accommodation is a change in process, rules, or procedure, or the provision of some assistive device, which is not too expensive or disruptive for the employer, which lets the employee work his/her full hours and do his/her full job. (Examples are providing stools for cashiers who normally stand but have leg problems; letting diabetics snack on the job, to balance their blood pressure; an ergonomic keyboard or oral dictation software for someone with arthritis in their hands, to minimize the pain from typing; etc.) It is not a reasonable accommodation to be able to work part time when the employer needs full time work, since then you are not doing the job.
It is not likely the case, therefore, that what you request is an accommodation the employer must grant, and you can be terminated for not working full hours.
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