The employer must pay for accommodation arrangements, as long as they do not cause undue hardship.
Employers can get government funding to help pay for accommodation. Other supports are also available.
The employer is only obliged to make accommodations that help the employee do their job. Employers are not required to pay for transportation to and from work. However, they may have to move the employee to another work location that is easier for the employee to access using their own transportation.
Ergonomic adjustments are pro-active. They may prevent a disability rather than accommodating one. However, ergonomic adjustments may ease the symptoms of some disabilities, such as repetitive strain.
“Hard” accommodations are adjustments to physical things such as a work station, facilities, equipment, or technology.
“Soft” accommodations are adjustments to work arrangements such as the hours of work, allowing employees to work from home, or changing work locations.
The employer could not force you to use an arrangement that had been made for another employee with your disability. In the same way, you cannot tell the employer how it must accommodate you. However, both of you can share your experiences as you work to find the best solution for you in this new job.
Yes. A broken leg is a temporary disability.
Yes.
No, there is no rule. However, the employer must be reasonable. It takes time to gather documentation, arrange meetings to discuss more complex accommodation requirements, and choose between the options. The process may also rely on support from others in the workplace, such as union representatives. Accommodation solutions can take time, but the employer should not delay the process. They should not take an unreasonable length of time to arrange for the accommodation. For example, they cannot say that the adjustment will be delayed until budget funds are approved.
This is actually the ideal approach. You will likely find that the employee has already done the research. Remember, though, that the accommodation process is a dialogue. All the parties must agree, taking account of everyone's best interest.
This is an important question. The employee may not want to cause trouble even if they are struggling. You want to give them the chance to talk about any problems before they turn into issues that affect their work. Consider putting reminders in your calendar, or holding regular meetings after you set up the accommodation to talk about how things are going.
If you have not set up a system for checking in with the employee and they start to struggle at work, make sure that the first thing you ask the employee is whether an accommodation issue is affecting their performance.
This is actually the ideal approach. You will likely find that the employee has already done the research. Remember, though, that the accommodation process is a dialogue. All the parties must agree, taking account of everyone's best interest.
This is an important question. The employee may not want to cause trouble even if they are struggling. You want to give them the chance to talk about any problems before they turn into issues that affect their work. Consider putting reminders in your calendar, or holding regular meetings after you set up the accommodation to talk about how things are going.
If you have not set up a system for checking in with the employee and they start to struggle at work, make sure that the first thing you ask the employee is whether an accommodation issue is affecting their performance.
Yes, please look at our list of resources.
No. The Supreme Court has ruled that employers must consider other options. For persons with disabilities, employers should not strictly apply uniform standards. Employees must be evaluated in terms of what they are capable of doing.
You can ask for medical reports that give you enough information to arrange for accommodation. If the reports do not say what the employee can and cannot do, the work group trying to arrange for the accommodation will have trouble choosing between options and solutions. This means that you can go back and ask for more specific information. You do not have a right to know what the medical diagnosis is, just what the employee can and cannot do.
Employers are allowed to ask for an independent medical assessment of the employee. The process must be respectful. The employer must be flexibile about the date and time of the employee's appointments. For example, the employer cannot just tell the employee to go to an appointment at a specific time and fire the employee if they cannot make the appointment.
It may cost nothing. Or you may have to pay to change facilities, work stations or work arrangements. When you look at options for accommodation, you are free to suggest options that are less costly, as long as they respect the dignity of the employee being accommodated.
No. A person with a disability is no more likely than any other employee to have an accident at work.
If you believe this, you are missing out on hiring capable, talented candidates. It is too bad that you think persons with disabilities will not contribute as much as other candidates. Seeing a person as only disabled means that you are not seeing all that they can do and all the ways they can contribute. Besides, it is illegal not to hire a person because of their disability.
No. A person with a disability will not need to take more time off work than other employees. Actually, employees with disabilities have better attendance rates than other people. Some employees may have to work part-time or flexible hours because of their disability. But if you meet these needs, you can expect the employee to work the hours that they have committed to work.
Persons with disabilities include lawyers, engineers, and others. In fact, the number of persons with disabilities graduating from universities is rising every year. Pro-active employers will want to tap into this growing talent pool.
Why not try one of the many job trial programs, such as Ability Edge? How about using a probationary employment period? Also, try to make sure the managers have the support and skills they need to supervise the candidate. You may want to get some help from job coaches or organizations that offer awareness training may. All of these supports are listed on our resources pages.
Accessibility is not the same as accommodation. Accessibility means making sure washrooms and entrances are accessible with wide doors, entrance ramps, and so on.
At work, accommodation is a way to make sure that no person is kept out of a job because of their disability. It is a way to support people to do the jobs they are able to do. Some persons with disabilities need accessibility as part of their accommodation arrangement. Other employees may not need any accommodation. It all depends on the individual employee and the particular workplace.
Persons with disabilities are no different than any other candidate. They are able to start working just like other people can. Sometimes it is harder for persons with disabilities to get work experience, because of negative ideas about hiring them.
This depends on the person. Some people would have no problem. For others, you may have to try 'bundling' jobs. This is one way to make sure that an employee with a disability does not do work that they are not able to do, or that might make their disability worse. However, remember to treat each accommodation as an individual case.
It is true that you must balance safety with the duty to accommodate. [add link] To have a rule not to hire disabled persons for safety reasons is illegal. [add link]Hiring standards must be linked to what is needed to do each job. In the hiring, you must look at each applicant to judge if they are able to do the job. It is also illegal for unions to discriminate.
Deaf persons can operate vehicles and other workplace equipment. They can use their sight and other technical aids.
Persons with disabilities are just as self-sufficient as any other employee. They also want, like everyone else, to belong to a team. You can offer training and other supports to make sure the staff is supportive, and that the person with a disability is treated with dignity and respect.
The employer must accommodate everyone on an ongoing basis, whether or not a person has a disability now. Employers should also re-evaluate working arrangements to ensure that accommodation is working for all the parties. As any employee ages, there is a greater chance that they will need some form of accommodation. Persons with disabilities are no different.
Hiring a person with a disability will not necessarily cost anything. Also, there are resources that might support the costs of accommodation. The fact is that the law says employers must accommodate up to “undue hardship”. Unless the accommodation will put your business out of business, the cost of accommodation cannot be a reason not to hire a qualified candidate.
This depends on the accommodation and the business. Every case is different. But if the accommodation will make it hard for you to do business, it may be undue hardship.