New Manager Reasonable Accommodation Training

This course is an individualized, self-paced version of the full “Reasonable Accommodation Training for Management Teams” workshop. Front line managers are the key to an employer’s successful effort to comply with the reasonable accommodation provisions of Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Managers and the teams they supervise understand what it takes to safely perform the tasks required by the jobs which must be done for their business entity to thrive. Further, a manager’s daily contact with team members often results in “first to know” awareness that a change in the physical or cognitive ability of an effective employee has opened the door to the need for a multi-level “interactive conversation”. Matheson’s Reasonable Accommodation Training for Management Teams focuses on the role the front line manager plays in the entity-wide reasonable accommodation effort.

Orientation to the Manager’s Role in the Reasonable Accommodation Process

Introduction to the world of reasonable accommodation
The players: employee, manager, reasonable accommodation program manager
The purpose: hire and retain the “Qualified Individual”
Overview of the law behind reasonable accommodation
Positive outcomes achieved

Reasonable Accommodation Terminology

The three-prong definition of disability under Title I of the amended ADA
Essential function v. marginal function
Qualified individual
Qualification standards
Performance standards
Conduct standards
Reasonable accommodation
The interactive conversation

The Employee’s Role

Participate in the process with good faith
Medical restriction versus work restriction
The medical restriction to work restriction to essential function connection

The Reasonable Accommodation Program Manager’s Role

Take the lead
Manage the reasonable accommodation process
Manage the interactive conversation
Identify the essential functions and physical demands of the job
Find a solution that restores the qualified individual
Maintain the documentation

The Line Manager’s Role

Listen for, recognize, and respond to a request for reasonable accommodation
Participate in the interactive conversation
Contribute to a solution that accommodates the essential function
Memorialize your contribution
Maintain confidentiality

Finding a Reasonable Accommodation Solution

Assist in determination of the essential functions of the job
Leave as an accommodation
Shift and schedule changes as an accommodation
Transfer to an open position – the accommodation of last resort

When a Workable Solution is Not Found

Undue hardship
Refusal to attempt
Pitfalls
Direct threat
Retaliation
Failure to accommodate

The 60-plus page course manual includes the presentation and case studies in a format for note taking by the individual manager.

Bonus Reference Guide

Each participant in our training programs receives a copy of “The Americans with Disabilities Act – Title I Case Reference Document”. This resource includes a copy of ADA Title I, a compendium of federal court and EEOC settlement documents pertaining to employment testing “do’s and don’ts”, and an important discussion of “Undue Hardship”, published in the Fordham Law Review by author Julie Branfield. (see: Julie Brandfield, Undue Hardship: Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 59 Fordham L. Rev. 113 (1990). Also available at http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol59/iss1/4). The case reference document is updated from time-to-time with relevant cases or citations. Updates to the document are sent to each student who has participated in a training program and whose contact information is up-to-date in our database.

Roy Matheson, ADAC has presented as a keynote speaker, panelist, trainer, or workshop instructor at more than 400 public and private educational events, management training programs, and national conferences. His audience includes managers and staff of federal, state, county, and municipal government entities as well as the full spectrum of corporate entities serving the United States, Canada, and 6 other countries. Roy’s body of work includes hundreds of online webinars and blogs related to Title I of the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act. His consulting and guidance assignments address legal compliance issues raised by Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act. These issues include aspects of employment testing, essential function job analysis, and reasonable accommodation program start-up and management. Roy sees himself as a trusted adviser in demanding situations requiring clear, well-thought-out guidance within the environment of employment and disability-related civil rights law.