Employment Law: Potential Reasonable Accommodations

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Note: The General Principles of "Reasonable Accommodations" is taken directly from the Enforcement Guidance: Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship Under the Americans with Disabilities Act issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission web site at: http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/accommodation.html#reasonable. When you read the general principles below what is key in Title I of the American with Disability Act of 1990 is the requirement that an employer must provide "reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities who are employees or applicants for employment, unless to do so would cause undue hardship."

Summary:
Title I of the ADA requires accommodation for the employee in your assignment. From the fact pattern, this employee is in fact qualified but for the fact that he has no legs. When you answer this assignment, I would stipulate that he already has his wheelchair as the employer would not be required to provide that. Evaluate each of the positions suggested. Determine which of the jobs can be reasonably accommodated without having to eliminate a fundamental duty of the job. Which of the jobs can the employer acquire or modify the equipment used on the job. Will such accommodations cause "undue hardship" to the employer as defined below? I would suggest that you go to this site http://online.onetcenter.org/find/
and under "Find Occupations", in-put each of the jobs and it will tell you what is required, specifically abilities, then you can evaluate whether the job can be accommodated for the employee.

General Principles: Reasonable Accommodation
Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (the "ADA")(1) requires an employer(2) to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities who are employees or applicants for employment, unless to do so would cause undue hardship. "In general, an accommodation is any change in the work environment or in the way things are customarily done that enables an individual with a disability to enjoy equal employment opportunities."(3)There are three categories of "reasonable accommodations":
"(i) modifications or adjustments to a job application process that enable a qualified applicant with a disability to be considered for the position such qualified applicant desires; or
(ii) modifications or adjustments to the work environment, or to the manner or circumstances under which the position held or desired is customarily performed, that enable a qualified individual with a disability to perform the essential functions of that position; or
(iii) modifications or adjustments that enable a covered entity's employee with a disability to enjoy equal benefits and privileges of employment as are enjoyed by its other similarly situated employees without disabilities."

(4)The duty to provide reasonable accommodation is a fundamental statutory requirement because of the nature of discrimination faced by individuals with disabilities. Although many individuals with disabilities can apply for and perform jobs without any reasonable accommodations, there are workplace barriers that keep others from performing jobs which they could do with some form of accommodation. These barriers may be physical obstacles (such as inaccessible facilities or equipment), or they may be procedures or rules (such as rules concerning when work is performed, when breaks are taken, or how essential or marginal functions are performed). Reasonable accommodation removes workplace barriers for individuals with disabilities.

Reasonable accommodation is available to qualified applicants and employees with disabilities.(5) Reasonable accommodations must be provided to qualified employees regardless ...