Helen A. Schartz, Kevin M. Schartz, D.J. Hendricks, & Peter Blanck
2006
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Integral to employment for people with disabilities is the Americans with Disabilities Act's (ADA) workplace accommodation provision that allows qualified individuals to perform essential job functions. Title I of the ADA prohibits employers from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities in hiring, retention, promotion or termination. One form of prohibited discrimination is failing to make reasonable accommodations for a qualified job applicant or employee's physical or mental limitations, unless the accommodations would impose an undue hardship on the business. Through the ADA's "interactive process," employers and employees collaborate to identify and implement workplace accommodations that are within reason.
Little empirical evidence is available to understand employers' decisions to provide accommodations. This article continues our line of empirical study and explores employee and employer factors associated with employers' decisions to accommodate current employees. Building on our previous research, the present analyses are based on data from interviews with employers who contacted the Job Accommodation Network (JAN) concerning workplace accommodations for current employees.
In the following sections, we first describe workplace ac- commodation requirements and analysis, before and after ADA passage in 1990. Next, we examine the extent to which employers' accommodation decisions are linked closely to the ADA's definition of disability for a qualified employee or other factors. Lastly, we discuss the implications of the present findings for our ongoing line of study.
Helen A. Schartz, Kevin M. Schartz, D.J. Hendricks, Peter Blanck. (2006). Workplace Accommodations: Empirical Study of Current Employees. Mississippi Law Journal, 75, 1085-1095
Keywords: accommodations, reasonable accommodations, workplace accommodations