Identifying and Accommodating Invisible Disabilities

• Overview
• Credits

Under federal and many state and local laws, employers are required to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities.While some employee disabilities are extremely obvious (e.g., a blind employee), the definition of "disabilities" under applicable law is broad enough so that most employees who have disabilities will have disabilities that are invisible to the naked eye; yet, employers must accommodate these employees as well. In order to comply with its obligations under applicable law, employers must be able to identify employees with these invisible disabilities and provide reasonable accommodations to them so that such employees can perform the essential functions of their job. This topic will apprise employers of their legal obligations to provide reasonable accommodations to disabled employees, provide employers with tools to identify employees who may have invisible disabilities, and teach employers how to engage in the interactive process so that a reasonable accommodation is offered to such employees.

Authors

Agenda

Legal Background

• Definition of Disability

- Americans With Disabilities Act

- State Law

- Local Law

• Requirement to Accommodate Employees With Disabilities

- Accommodation Must Be Reasonable

- The Interactive Process

Identifying Invisible Disabilities

• Information Provided by Employee

• Managerial Knowledge

• Workplace Gossip

• Reasonable Belief

Accommodating Invisible Disabilities

• Reasonable so That Employee Can Perform the Essential Functions of the Job

• Case by Case Basis

- No One Size Fits All Approach

- Two Employees With Same Condition May Have Different Accommodations

• Employee Privacy

- HIPAA

- Need-to-Know Basis

- What to Tell Co-workers