https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDK8yTbrQGA The following is the transcript from my most recent video: Understanding Limitations and Restrictions Hi, my name’s Kyle Ingram. I’m a disability rights attorney focusing on federal employees in Washington, D.C. Today I’m going to talk about reasonable accommodations for federal employees and the concept of limitations and restrictions. These two concepts are critical … Read more
I have encountered many reasonable accommodation coordinators who wrongly believe that if an employee requests a reasonable accommodation and does not receive the accommodation, the employee is not entitled to continue in their employment. This is a complete misreading (or non-reading) of the ADA. Here’s an example of the issue: Mark has carpal tunnel syndrome. … Read more
Employees with reasonable accommodation needs often face a common problem: their requested accommodations are not adequately supported by their medical documentation, leading agencies to offer alternative accommodations that do not effectively meet their needs. The Disability Laws only require that employers meet the minimum needs of the employee. They do not necessarily have to provide … Read more
An issue overlooked by many federal agencies is their obligation under EEOC regulations to cover the expenses of certain medical evaluations for job applicants. This responsibility is particularly significant in roles demanding extensive physical exertion, such as law enforcement and other similar positions. Many federal agencies have either misunderstood or haven’t adequately updated their policies, … Read more
The Agency DRAD (Disability Reasonable Accommodation Division) and other RACs (Reasonable Accommodation Coordinators or Committees) for federal employees are responsible for ensuring that employees with disabilities are provided with reasonable accommodations to perform their job duties. Their job is generally, at least on paper, to work with employees and their supervisors to identify what accommodations … Read more
The road to unlawful disability discrimination is paved with “good intentions.” Many federal agency lawyers (and therefore everyone else listening to them) mistakenly believe that discrimination requires in every case proof of discriminatory intent. That means if management denies any discriminatory intent, there is no discrimination (absent other evidence). That also means that if you … Read more
Many federal agency managers come to the reasonable accommodation discussion armed with incorrect suppositions about the requirements of the law. They think accommodations are optional, or that if they make a good faith effort to accommodate, that is all that is required. These myths prevent many federal employees from getting the accommodations they need. Managers … Read more
Most federal agencies have difficulty dealing with reasonable accommodations because, well, they just don’t understand it. Many managers, HR, and EEO personnel are familiar with the concept of discrimination—at least insofar as they can avoid a charge of discrimination by having (and documenting) a “legitimate, non-discriminatory reason” for their actions. But this does not apply … Read more
I speak with many federal employees whose management has recently added “essential functions” to their job descriptions solely to avoid providing reasonable accommodations. This can amount to discrimination if the Agency denies a reasonable accommodation because of a “fake” essential function. Frequently these arise in telework situations. I call them fake here because they don’t … Read more
Too often federal employees call me with issues about getting what are otherwise very reasonable disability accommodations from their supervisors. The problem is that federal agency managers are normally trained to treat all employees the same. That works for many situations, but not for reasonable accommodations. Under the ADA, treating everyone the same can actually … Read more
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