My lil brother works for the same co. I do, but seperate buildings. He tore his knee up playing soccer 4 weeks ago and has been in crutches since. He's having surgery in a few weeks and he'll be in crutches for at another 2 months afterwards. Everyday he crawls up 2 flights of stairs to get to the 2nd floor where his dept. is located. HR is aware that he is on crutches but other than that nothing has been done to accomodate him. I'm wondering if there's anything we should do? We're actually surprised theres no access in the building for someone in a wheelchair or someone that cant walk. SO if someone in a wheelchair applied for a job, he wouldnt get hired???
I won't be able to word this well, but if someone who has a disability discloses this fact after a job offer has been made (or at the interview if it is a disability that can be seen by others (in a wheelchair, missing a limb, etc.)); he or she can ask for reasonable accommodation(s). Every business will be different as to what is reasonable. The company has to be a certain size (determined by number of people on payroll) and the building style/background can be an issue. For example, if you want to work in a historic mansion and you use a wheel chair, the business is not expected to tack on a ramp across the front facade of the building (compromises historical factor) or add an elevator (expensive). The person would probably have to show documentation if he or she needs to get accommodations. The accommodations are meant to bring the person to a level playing-field with other workers--not to advance him or her or give special priviledge. Also, the person must be able to perform the essential duties of the job with accommodations (if he or she cannot perform them without). There is more to it, but it has been a while since I took my disability law course in grad school.
I'm wondering if he could be temporarily moved to a ground-floor office or transferred to a different department. Or perhaps he could be allowed to work from home at least some of the time (depending on his job function).
It seems to me that in this case, the burden is on him to ask for some sort of accomodation - but I agree with your concerns about the facility itself being badly designed and probably not in compliance with the ADA act.
i should know this...we did a whole month on dibability in one of my social work classes...I will check my notes, i remember a couple of websites
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Carrie Bradshaw: The fact is, sometimes it's really hard to walk in a single woman's shoes. That's why we need really special ones now and then to make the walk a little more fun.
By law there are ADA codes that need to be followed. Depending on if the company owns the building or rents/leases workspace, the building owners should be held responsible. Here is a link to some info, but I'm not sure who should be contacted to report it or make a change.