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The ADA is a federal civil rights law that was passed in 1990 and went into effect beginning in 1992. Its purpose is to protect people with disabilities from discrimination in employment (Title I). Title I of the ADA prohibits discrimination in employment and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities. Title II of the ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in services, programs and activities provided by state and local governments.
Campus staff and faculty, regardless of full-time, part-time, non-benefitted, probationary, or regular status, student employees, temporary employees, and applicants of employment, who are experiencing barriers at work, due to their disability, that impacts their ability to perform job functions, meet job expectations, access benefits of employment, or participate in the employment application process.
Employees can request an accommodation at any time during the application process or while employed. You can request an accommodation even if you did not ask for one when applying for a job or after receiving a job offer. In general, you should request an accommodation when you know that due to a disability, there is a workplace barrier that is preventing you from competing for a job, performing a job, or gaining equal access to a benefit of employment like an employee lunch room or employee parking. As a practical matter, it is better to request an accommodation before your job performance suffers or conduct problems occur because accommodations are not retroactive, and employers do not have to rescind discipline that occurred before they knew about an employee's disability.
The University is obligated to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees with disabilities, unless the accommodation would create an undue hardship on the University.
A reasonable accommodation is any modification or adjustment to a job or the work environment that will enable a qualified applicant or employee with a disability to participate in the application process or to perform essential job functions. Reasonable accommodations may include but are not limited to: making facilities accessible, adjusting work schedules, restructuring jobs, the reallocation or redistribution of non-essential, marginal job functions, providing assistive devices or equipment, and modifying work sites. A leave of absence may also be considered where necessary, in conjunction with the FMLA policy and the University of Utah's Medical Leave of Absence policy.
An employer does not have to provide an accommodation that would cause an "undue hardship" to the employer. Undue hardship is based on an individualized assessment of current circumstances that show that a specific accommodation would cause significant difficulty or expense to business operations. A determination of undue hardship should be based on several factors, including: the nature of the accommodation needed, the type of operation of the department, the structure and functions of the workforce, the geographic separateness, the administrative or fiscal relationship of the facility involved in making the accommodation to the employee, the impact of the accommodation on the operation of the department, etc.
An employer's determination of whether an individual with a disability poses a direct threat to health and safety should be based on an evaluation of the individual's present ability to safely perform the job and a consideration of the following four factors: (i) the duration of the risk; (ii) the nature and severity of the potential harm; (iii) the likelihood that the potential harm will occur; and (iv) the imminence of the potential harm. The determination that an individual poses a direct threat must be based on objective, factual evidence regarding the individual's ability to perform essential job functions. If the employee with a disability poses a direct threat to the safety or health of staff members in the workplace, the employer must consider whether the risk can be eliminated or reduced to an acceptable level with a reasonable accommodation.
In the event that there is no reasonable accommodation which would allow an employee to perform the essential functions of their job, and the information from the medical provider indicates that the employee is not qualified, the University will work to reassign the employee to another position within the University. An employee may withdraw their request for accommodation at any time prior to medical information being submitted to the HR Department. If HR receives medical information indicating that the employee is not able to perform the essential functions of their position with or without accommodation, the accommodation of job reassignment will be offered.
Job Reassignment is a type of reasonable accommodation available to an employee who can no longer perform the essential functions of their current position, with or without reasonable accommodation. During Job Reassignment, an employee is placed on unpaid administrative leave for a period of up to thirty (30) days, and if there is a vacant position (at a lateral job grade or lower) that the employee is qualified for, and the employee can perform the essential functions of the vacant position, with or without reasonable accommodation, the employee will be reassigned to the vacant position without having to compete for the position.
It is essential that the employee actively participate in the search for open positions by actively checking job postings and working with recruiters on campus to identify positions - throughout the entire reassignment period.
In the event that there is no vacant position for which the employee is qualified within the thirty-day period, the employee may be released from their employment.
Decisions to deny an employee's request for accommodation may be appealed to the Chief Human Resources Officer for Campus HR or UUHC HR, respectively.
UHRM keeps your information, including the fact that you requested an accommodation, the outcome of your accommodation request, and your medical information, confidential (i.e. limited to those individuals with a business need-to-know) and separate from your employment file.