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.
