Disabilities in the Workplace Attorney in New Jersey, New Jersey
What is reasonable accommodation of disabilities?
What is reasonable accommodation of disabilities?
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so when we talk about reasonable
accommodation of
disabilities it’s um one of only two
areas in employment law where there is a
reasonable accommodation obligation Um
the other is when it comes to religious
observances for example giving people
time off from work uh on the Sabbath
that type of thing we see issues
regarding reasonable accommodation of
disabilities much much more frequently
than when we see issues regarding
reasonable accommodation of religion Um
in New Jersey disability for purposes of
the anti-discrimination law is defined
very broadly It can be any physical
mental or emotional condition that is
diagnosible
um regardless of whether it’s permanent
or temporary regardless of whether it’s
severe or relatively minor The law
requires that once an employer knows an
employee has a medical issue that
somehow impacts their ability to perform
their job the employer has an
affirmative obligation to provide
reasonable
accommodations So what’s reasonable in
this context well let’s talk about what
an accommodation is first An
accommodation is a change It’s a change
in the job duties a change in the work
schedule some sort of change in the
terms and conditions of employment to
allow the employee with a disability to
do their job Uh it could be temporary it
could be permanent Um reasonable means
that the employee is able to do the
essential functions of their job and
unreasonable accommodation is one that
would let the employee not do the
essential functions of their job And so
the easiest example the one I use with
clients most often is when you talk
about somebody who works for a
construction company is a ditch dare If
that person develops uh a herniated disc
or spinal stenosis or arthritis in the
lower back and can no longer dig ditches
giving the person the opportunity not to
dig ditches is not a reasonable
accommodation because that’s the job
However if there’s another open position
at the company that the person is
qualified to do the employer could be
required to give that person that open
position They’re not required to bump
another person out of their job for the
employee with a disability But if the
position is open and the employee is
qualified they would be required to give
it to them Reasonable also has another
meaning in terms of what burden it
imposes on the employer The employer can
assert what’s called an affirmative
defense where they have the burden of
proof to show that the accommodation
that the employee requested and for that
matter any accommodation that would
allow the employee to do the essential
functions of the job is an undue burden
on the employer And so an undue burden
could be financially Most commonly
you’ll see that in cases of serious
physical disabilities that require
architectural accommodations that
require the employer actually physically
change the physical workspace in some
very dramatic and expensive way But it
could also be an undue burden for the
employer operationally Often we’re
looking at how many employees do the
same job as that employee who needs an
accommodation And this is in the context
where the accommodation the employee
needs his time off from work to heal
from something
And if you take the opposite ends of the
spectrum if you have an employee who is
the only person at the business who does
that work so for example the CEO they’re
not going to be able to accommodate the
CEO being out of work for medical
reasons very long because he’s the only
person or she’s the only person who does
that job at the other end of the
spectrum And this is not to to look down
upon people who are at the other end of
the spectrum but if you’re in a position
where there’s a lot of people at your
employer who do that job like a
secretary for example or if you’re in a
position like a secretary where it’s
easy to go to what we call a temporary
agency and get a temporary replacement
it’s much easier to hold the person’s
position open for a long period of time
while they heal because there’s other
people who can cover the work And so the
employee employer can argue it’s an
undue burden for us to hold the position
open um because you know that we don’t
have anybody to cover your job
Morristown, NJ employment law attorney Chris Lenzo talks about reasonable accommodation of disabilities in the workplace.
