ROUGH EDITED COPY

JAN

Federal Winter Webcast Accommodation Binge-a-Thon

February 21, 2017

CART CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY:

ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION SERVICES, LLC

PO BOX 278 LOMBARD, IL 60148

* * * *

This is being provided in a rough-draft format.

Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in

order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a

totally verbatim record of the proceedings

* * * *

1

>> LOUIS ORSLENE: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the first ever job accommodation network federal employer winter bing-a-thon.

>> BETH LOY: Hello. We're looking forward to today's binge-a-thon, and we hope everyone enjoys it. We'll be joined today by a guest speaker from the EEOC as well as other members of staff.

We need to go over housekeeping first. First, if you experience technical difficulties during the web cast, please give us a call at 800-526-7234 for voice, and hit button 5 or for TTY, 877-781-9403.

Second, if you have any questions, send them in at any time during the web cast to our e-mail account which is request@askJAN.org or our question and answer pod located at the bottom of the screen.

You will also see a file share pod, and we provided you with a resource hand-out that you can download from there.

And finally I want to remind you that at the end of the web cast, an evaluation form will automatically pop up in another screen in another window We really appreciate your feedback and really want to know how you think the binge-a-thon went today.

>> LOUIS ORSLENE: The form won't pop up if they have their pop-ups blocked for their browser, but we will send it following the binge-a-thon.

We're going to live tweet, so if you're on Twitter, feel free to comment as we move through our session today.

>> BETH LOY: I want to mention that the purpose of doing it this way instead of the three separate webcasts that we usually do is to test out to see whether this might be a better approach to do one long event rather than three shorter ones. We want to know if it's easier to schedule, do you like it better, does it flow better? If you have any comments, please include them in the evaluation form at the end of the presentation

I plan to start with a brief overview of the section 501 regulations related to affirmative action, and then we'll talk about how to make your workplaces more inviting for people with disabilities, and then legal trends we're seeing regarding reasonable accommodations. Then you will hear from our team about specific accommodation issues that come up on their teams as well as practical ideas for addressing the issue.

Our webcast is three hours long, but we will incorporate a few short breaks.

Now to speak to us is our guest speaker from the EEOC, Dr. Aaron Konopasky. Aaron is a senior attorney advisor at the EEOC. He's at the headquarters actually in Washington D.C., where he assists the commission in interpreting and applying the statutes that it enforces. Aaron has participated in the development of the regulations under the ADA, the age discrimination and employee act and the act of 1973 as other commission publications and documents. He is very knowledge able

2

about today's subject. In 2009 he was awarded the highest honor conferred by the EEOC. The award recognizes employees who have made significant contributions to the agency's mission, strategic goals and objectives, and his accomplishments are far above others in quality, scope, and impact.

Aaron joined EEOC after receiving his diploma from law school. Where his research and psychology, and served as an adjunction professor at Rutgers, Tulane, and the university of New Orleans. Welcome, Aaron, and I'm going to turn the program to you.

>> AARON: Thank you, and I'm excited to talk to you all. Unfortunately, I have to leave early, so I won't be here for the entire three hours, and I won't be able to answer questions either.

There will be act information at the end of the presentation, and you can always contact me or other people in my office if you have follow-up questions or if you want to know more about the regulations.

With that, let's get started. And I'll ask for the first slide that's titled background, please. The federal government has a long history of promoting employment of individuals with disabilities. It's been 40 years since section 501 of the rehabilitation act came into existence and it has made a tremendous difference. The federal government now employs more individuals with disabilities than it ever has before. But there are still some problems and we want to build on our past success and set our sights on some of those remaining problems. And that's what we try to do in this regulation. Next slide, please.

Two notable problems are described here. First, people with disabilities remain disproportionately represented at lower levels of federal employment. The percentages of people with disabilities in positions that are of lesser pay is higher than the percentage of people with disabilities in higher paid positions in the federal government. So that's one problem. And secondly the participation rate of individuals with what we call targeted disabilities, and I'll talk a bit more about that for people who aren't familiar with it, remains particularly low.

As you'll see, a lot of the regulation is intended to build on past momentum that section 501 created by setting its sights squarely on these two problems, and giving extra special effort.

Okay, so this is a note to people who intend to read the new regulation or to refer to it in their work in the CFR. All of the main requirements of the regulation are in paragraph d, and I realize I should have noted the entire site. 29CFR1614203 paragraph d, or subsection d. That subsection talks about an affirmative action plan. The background on that is that section 501 of the rehabilitation act and talking about the statute that was passed by congress requires each federal agency to submit an affirmative action plan for people with disabilities to the EEOC

3

every year The EEOC is supposed to review those plans and either approve or disapprove them for each agency. But the EEOC has never said in a regulation at least what needs to be in those plans for us to approve it, and that's what we try to do in the regulation This regulation specifies contents of the affirmative action plans for people with disabilities, the contents that have to be there in order for us to approve the plan, so all the requirements can be found in that one paragraph, paragraph d that specifies the contents.

Some of this is going to be new to federal agencies, so agencies have a year before the regulation comes into effect And so they have a year to gear up to be able to comply with the new requirements In some cases they might have to change their systems or maybe hire a few people. And so they have a year to do that. The regulation becomes effective on January 3 of 2018.

And you heard me talk just now about the affirmative action plan. The first plan that needs to be submitted to EEOC is likely to be due by the end of January of 2018. This is not finalized. The commission has to officially incorporate the plans in the MD-715 reports. This is for people who are used to reporting to EEOC And so we're going to integrate the new affirmative action plan with the MD-715, with the management directive 715 records, which a lot of you should be familiar with and have been doing for years now, working with the office of federal operations.

So EEOC is going to be reaching out to people and explaining how the new MD-715 reports are going to work. We have plenty of time to go before the report is actually due. But it hasn't -- we haven't incorporated it just yet.

Next I want to go over the regulation in detail and talk about the requirements that are in that paragraph D. I want to identify three broad themes that I think are useful for the -- for you to look for as I talk. These themes help to unify the regulation and help see it as a coherent whole. The first one is a focus on results instead of methods. In many of the provisions in this regulation, agencies are given broad flexibility in exactly how they implement the requirement. The important thing from our point of view is that they achieve the intended result, not the specific methods of doing so And we recognize that different agencies are going to have different strategies depending on their circumstances and depending on where they're located, for example.

So, results instead of methods, that's one theme. The second theme is a focus on information. We believe that a system works the best when everybody knows what they're supposed to be doing and what they're not supposed to be doing So one thing that the regulation is designed to do is to make sure that people have the right information and that includes both administrators and employees. And third, the focus is on federal careers. And by that, I mean it's not just a hiring regulation. We've had hiring

4

initiatives in the past, for example, through executive orders. This regulation is intended to not focus just on hiring, but on the entire employee life cycle all the way from hiring through retention to advancement. So you're going to be able to see all of those parts as I go through the specific requirements.

Three themes, results instead of methods, results, and careers.

Let's get started with the first set of requirements, hiring and advancement programs. We're going to see the first theme in action, which is results instead of methods. What the regulation says is that agencies have to perform some sort of targeted outreach to people with disabilities And exactly how agencies do that is not specified That's up to them. We provide examples in the regulations, so examples can include internship programs, resume data bases, partnerships with organizations and so on. But the regulation doesn't say exactly which combination of those or which other methods to use. And the reason is that it's really intended to fix a particular problem. Agencies sometimes don't know where to look for candidates with disabilities and people with disabilities don't always know about federal opportunities. And so the intention here is to solve that problem somehow by getting the agency to reach out to the disability community and to recruit in a way that's going to be effective for them. If they have contact with disability organizations in their geographical region, for example, that might be one particularly effective tool for that agency, but for a different agency, the focus might be on training or internship programs. The result is that they are connected up with the people with the disabilities, and that applications will come in. Maybe I'll just advance to the next slide before talking about the next thing.

Application process. Okay. Again, the focus is on a particular problem that we heard about a lot when developing the regulations And that is really a communication problem. People with disabilities, as you know, sometimes need reasonable accommodations to apply to get through the application process. For example, to go into an interview. Or they might want to apply for a particular position in an agency through Schedule A, as we tend to call it, which is a hiring authority for people with certain kinds of disabilities. But they don't know how to get that ball rolling They don't know who to call. They don't know the process. And they don't know what to do. So, again, the request of the regulation is to ask the agencies to help solve that problem. Does the agency have its phone number easily available to members of the public, the phone number for somebody who could provide reasonable accommodations to job applicants, for example? Would a member of the public know who to call if they wanted an answer to a specific disability-related question, or if they wanted to apply for a particular position through Schedule A. And the agency is supposed to make that kind of

5

contact easy. The main thing is that they have enough people. It

doesn't matter exactly who, or it doesn't matter what their job title is or what office they're located in, as long as they are enough of them, and as long as they have enough training and resources and so on to answer the questions and provide the reasonable accommodations and so on, correctly, and in a reasonable amount of time.

So, although the provision doesn't actually talk about training and resources specifically, or how much to provide or who to provide it to, what it does say is that there has to be a certain kind of result, which is that the agency has to have enough people who are experts in the topic at hand in order to answer those questions, in order to provide those reasonable accommodations.

So this is really solving a communications problem Next slide. And the last slide in this particular subsection was advancement, and this is going to look a lot like the recruitment slide. And again, it's a problem-solving approach. It's a results instead of methods approach. Agencies are supposed to take steps to ensure that individuals with disabilities have sufficient advancement opportunities. We believe what's going to be effective in one agency might not be effective in another. So agencies are in the best position to figure out whether there's a particular roadblock in its agency when it comes to people with disabilities, and to address it so that it goes away, and to come up with some positive steps in order to ensure that people with disabilities have equal opportunity to advance to higher level positions within the agency. So it's a flexible approach, and we adopted that approach in order to maximize effectiveness of agency effort.

All right. So next slide and next topic. We're going to move now from hiring and advancement programs to one of the major overarching requirements as a result, and really one of the brand-new requirements, so people who are used to the old MD-715 record or what's required under the old section 501 without the new regulations, this is one to pay attention to, because it is really brand new. And that's the issue of goals or targets of having a certain percentage of people with disabilities in your work force Again, it's not just a hiring requirement. It's not that you hire a certain percentage of people with disabilities, but that you have a certain number of people with disability within your organization. This requires not only hiring but also retention. You don't want people with disabilities separating at too high a rate. And advancement, so that they reach the higher levels within the agency, not just down in the lower levels like we sometimes see.

But I'm not going to actually tell you the goals yet. We're going to keep it a little exciting. We're going to talk about definitions first I always like to talk about definitions.

6

So we're going to go through two concepts, because as you'll see, the goal section uses two different concepts of disability, so it's important to get the definitions straight. The first one is just a plain old word, "disability." This is the word that appears in section 501 of the rehabilitation act and appears in the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is interpreted in concert with the rehabilitation act. It is one that you're already familiar with if you work under section 501 now This is the same definition of disability as under the ADA And just to remind people about the ADA Amendments Act, after the Amendments Act which took effect in 2009, the definition of disability is very, very broad It's going to include a lot of medical conditions that aren't, for example, permanent. That aren't so serious that they prevent the person from working or they require a reasonable accommodation. The definition is very, very broad.

We have materials on our website if people want to read up on the definition of disability under the ADA Amendments Act, but the main point for our purposes is to remember this is a very broad definition.

Next we have the term, "targeted disability." This is a little more specific This is a subset of people with disabilities in the previous sense. This term is defined by a simple list. I've reproduced the list here.

[ Reading list ]. All right. And this definition, this list appears in OPM

standard form 256. And it also appears in EEOC's applicant flow form, which is something that agencies have the option of using themselves to track applications by people with disabilities. And it's these particular disabilities that we've judged that in the past they present -- they have presented significant barriers to employment. These are the people who have had serious difficulty getting employed in the past and continue to. That's why we target these disabilities for specific emphasis in our hiring, retention, and advancement program.

So next slide. Here, finally we have the goals. And there are four of them, if you unpack everything. The central ideas, you can think of the goals as 12 and 2 12% people with disabilities and 2% people with targeted disabilities Those are our goals. Now there's four of them because there's two each. Two for disabilities, and two for targeted disabilities, and the reason for that is that we have one goal for lower levels of employment. This is the GS-10 and below, and we have a separate goal for GS-11 and above. Higher and lower levels, 12% people with disabilities, and both higher and lower levels of employment, 2% of people with targeted disabilities.

These goals apply at the agency level. So agencies that employ large numbers of people with disabilities don't offset, somehow, agencies that employ fewer, each agency is going to have to adopt and work towards these goals for its own particular work force

7

This is really for people who are interested in some of the details. This slide explains how to count employees who aren't on the GS scale This is a little bit in the weeds, but not everybody is on the GS scale. And in order to calculate your percentages, you're going to have to fit people who aren't on the GS scale into one group or the other. And this one lays out the equivalents when doing that. You want to make it as simple as possible. We used a simple salaried cut-off to do that. People who earn above a certain level get grouped with the GS-11 and above and below that amount get grouped with the GS-10 and below. And the other thing that we want to make clear is that, again, with a focus on federal careers is permanent full-time non-seasonal employees that we're looking for. Those are the ones that count towards the goal. Other kinds of employees are great as well. These are the ones where we have the targets of the goals, because we wanted to specifically improve careers for people with disabilities in the federal government.

How do agencies tell whether they've met the goals? Every year EEOC requires agencies to check whether they have met the goals, and then to include that information in the Affirmative Action plan. So how are agencies supposed to do that? Here we gave agencies a choice. They can do it in a few different ways. One of them is the one that requires the least amount of effort or the least amount of resources, and that is to simply rely on OPM data. OPM already tracks representation rates for people with disability in federal agencies. And so an agency could just draw down from the OPM database or request it from someone at OPM, and use that number, which is perfectly fine. However in developing the rule, we learned that some agencies are not comfortable doing that because OPM numbers, according to these other agencies, undercount or underestimate the representation rates of people with disabilities within their agency. All right, so, OPM users SF-256, which is a form that asks for self-disclosure. It asked if you have a disability and asks you to check off which one. OPM relies on that form, and it also relies on veterans with 30% or more disability status, and it uses those two measures to figure out who or how many people within the agency, not who or how many people within the agency at a particular GS level or people with disabilities and people with targeted disabilities.

And so some agencies point out that, obviously, some people with disabilities and/or targeted disabilities are not going to get picked up by those two measures We have, for example, some non-veterans who aren't going to have 30% or more disability status who choose not to self-disclose on the SF-256, so agencies are allowed to look at other information as well, in particular records relating to schedule A hires Reasonable accommodation records, and if they want to, they can even develop their own self-identification form and administer it within their own agency. Although I should note that the SF-26 h 256 was

8

recently changed to address one of the problems that some people were pointing out, which is that people didn't want to reveal which particular disability they had on the form. And the SF-256 now allows you to check off a box that says I have a disability, but I'm not going to tell you which one it is. That might increase utilization of SF-256. But regardless we give agencies the option of using the other data in order to compile their specifics. It has the potential to reveal more people with disabilities and get the percentages up, but the downside is that it will require some work. And specifically agencies are going to have to figure out a way to avoid double counting. So if a person has a reasonable accommodation and has self-disclosed on SF-256, for example, that they don't get counted as two people with disabilities instead of just one.

So they have a trade-off between taking up resources on the one hand and increased accuracy on the other All right.

We're going to move on now to the next main topic, personal assistance services or PAS. I'll sometimes probably refer to it as PAS, and that's what I'm talking about. Here we're talking about assistance with activities with daily living. It's important to keep the definition in mind as much as possible, because it's really something quite specific that we're taking a look at it here. It's something pretty narrow. You can see what we're talking about with the examples here. For example, assistance with eating or drinking, using the restroom and putting on and taking off outer wear These are activities of daily living that aren't specifically job related. And these are activities that even though they're not specifically job-related, certain people with targeted disabilities cannot work without these services, without this assistance. So somebody who cannot eat by themselves, for example, isn't able to remain in the workplace without someone to assist, all right? And so for some people these are absolutely necessary services in order to have equal opportunity to work.

What the regulation says is that agencies have to provide personal assistance services during work and during job related travel if the following conditions are met: First, the services are needed because of a disability. Needed because of a targeted disability, specifically. As an aside, we doubt that someone who does not have a targeted disability would actually need personal assistance services. But that's what the regulation says. It has to enable the person to perform the essential functions of the job. The person still has to be able to accomplish what it is they have to accomplish on the job, and this is what enables them to do it. And it does not impose undue hardship on the agency.

And so that term, "undue hardship," is going to remind people rather quickly of the concept of a reasonable accommodation. Agencies have to provide reasonable accommodations unless they would impose undue hardship. Here we're talking about

9

the same kinds of things, right? So even though they're not ordinary reasonable accommodations, agencies have to provide personal assistance services unless doing so would impose undue hardship. So really personal assistance services act very much like reasonable accommodations They're different because they come from a different legal authority, but it really walks and talks like a reasonable accommodation.

A couple of things that we wanted to make clear about providers: We didn't want agencies to just be able to have co-workers on kind of an ad hoc basis. The services have to be provided by someone who's primary job function is provision of assistive services, or one of their job functions is personal assistance services. It's a professional, not a co-worker, and the professional can be assigned other tasks. Agencies wanted us to be clear on this. So the person who is providing services, if there's down time, if they don't have to be doing anything with respect to personal assistance services, there could be other tasks that they are performing, but personal assistance services have to come first. They can be employees or contractors. It's up to the agency which direction they want to go And some agencies do this by way of a pool, all right? So each individual service provider can be assigned to just one individual. That's one option. Or they can be assigned to a group of individuals. That's the pool model that some people have adopted. Now when you are choosing a provider for a single individual, if that situation comes up, the regulations make it clear that the primary consideration as to which one to choose, which one to hire or contract with is given to the individual's preference of the provider so that sometimes people who need these services already have somebody who have strong preferences of whether the person was male or female, for example. And you know, consistent with all the governing laws and to the extent possible, the agency is supposed to give primary conversation to the individual's preferences.

Just like reasonable accommodations, there have to be written procedures for providing PAS. So people have to know that this -- the possibility of PAS is out there and they have to be able to know what to do if they want to request PAS And all agencies, I'm going to talk about this a little bit more, but all agencies are already required to have reasonable accommodation procedures In order to satisfy this requirement, the agency may create new assistance procedures or they can include in their reasonable accommodation procedures a little paragraph or sentence that says that the procedures that the process for requesting PAS and the process for determining whether such services are required and the right to deny such request based on undue hardship is another way of going about it. In some cases it is really easier to think of these things as being the same. And so there's no real need, really, to have two separate sets of procedures, although there's nothing preventing it if the agency

10

wants to do that So there have to be written procedures so that people know what to do if they need to request PAS.

All right, so PAS is the other really new requirement. The two really new requirements being goals and PAS. These are things that agencies have not been required to do in the past, and these are things that in the judgment of the commission address particular problems that remain when it comes to employment of people with disabilities in the federal workforce. We were optimistic that having these two new requirements will make a real difference in hiring people who are qualified and who want to work and have the skill to work but just have not been able to do so because of disabilities getting in the way, to actually participate in the workplace and be productive.

All right. Next slide. I'm not going to talk a lot about records. There is a recordkeeping requirement. Just really quickly, in order to see how it's doing, an agency needs to keep records about applicant flow, how many people are applying with disabilities and how many people are applying with targeted disabilities as compared to how many people are actually hired with disabilities and targeted disabilities. So that's applicant flow. Records based on medical examinations or inquiries Detailed information about schedule A So for example, how many people with schedule A are hired under schedule A Are they being retained? Are they being converted? People under schedule A are expected to be converted to competitive service eventually after the probationary period. Some people complain that they are never converted, and so we want to see those numbers of the people who were hired, how many have been converted And details about each request for reasonable accommodation. That one is not new. We want to make sure that it was noted in here as a requirement. Now these records do not have to be made available to EEOC every year. The regulation does say that the EEOC can request them. So for example, if we're reading up on affirmative action for a particular agency, and it seems like there's a problem for retraining schedule A people, for example, we might want to see the records relating to schedule A, and again help to solve that problem so that we can help the agency fulfill its obligations under section 501.

>> BETH LOY: I'm going to ask you to summarize the rest of your presentation. There's good information in there. We've got speakers trying to beat down the door in there. I've never seen people so excited to present.

>> AARON KONOPASKY: It's exciting. Yeah. So the rest of it really is actually pretty straightforward, and it's about updating your policies, procedures and notices. All right? So this -- the next section, which is the really the last main section is all about information, right? And so people have to know about the reasonable accommodation rights, their accessibility rights, and possibility for funding accommodations, and what the regulation says is that the agency has to update all

11

of those things so that people know that. And just the last closing comment, again, the

requirement to follow all of these provisions doesn't kick in for another year or so. We are available in the office to provide guidance, and we'll be providing more detailed guidance and written guidance as the time goes on, and you can always contact any of us.

>> BETH LOY: Great, thank you so much. And we have put up Aaron's contact information. He's graciously offered to answer questions, so if you have follow-up questions, feel free to contact us or contact Aaron

>> A lot of great information in that. >> Thanks for having me. >> BETH LOY: All right. We've heard from the EEOC about

the regulations related to the affirmative action requirements. You know your legal obligations. Now we're going to talk about actual benefits from hiring and employing people with disabilities.

Louis, I've heard you talk about this many times, but can you talk about your stance briefly?

>> LOUIS ORSLENE: Good afternoon, everyone. We've seen a trend over the past few years of larger companies moving beyond compliance. While these are private companies, I believe these are a lot of lessons for the private sector. If one wants to understand why to move beyond compliance, one only needs to look at the numbers.

Here is a graphic that says one in five people in the U.S. report a disability. I think this is a pretty astounding number and has profound implication throughout our society and more specifically, for workplaces. Many have come to understand that there's a strong and growing value proposition for moving beyond compliance to create fully inclusive workplaces. And actually many workplaces are seeing diversity inclusion as a strategic competitive advantage. So employers need to know how to engage people with disabilities throughout the employee life cycle to develop and maintain this competitive advantage.

Federal agencies, much like their counter parts in private business, really need to attract and retain the best employees, with the impending labor shortage, particularly for those organizations who hire science, engineering and math knowledge, they need to ensure the pipeline includes the pool of people with disabilities. The organization will really need to understand how to create flexible workplaces in order to retain that talent. It's also important to note that there's a growing body of evidence suggesting that diversity and inclusion provides positive benefits to the organization's overall success.

So really, the value proposition is strong for hiring and retaining people with disabilities, and the proposition now extends beyond just risk management and compliance as we have traditionally applied it.

12

>> LINDA: I know you've been involved in putting together an online tool kit to help employers move beyond basic compliance to a more inclusive approach can you talk about the tool kit and whether it would be useful and how to find it?

>> LOUIS ORSLENE: Let me first direct everybody to the JAN workplace accommodation toolkit at askJAN.org/toolkit. The web address is in your hand-outs as well. Fundamentally, we believe that if an organization has a good accommodation infrastructure, and employees are well trained at applying the policies and procedures, then equal employment is provided to people with disabilities and therefore that workplace is inclusive. The tool kit resulted from conversations we've had with a number of large employers over the past several years. We heard that many were working to refresh their accommodation processes and practices and struggling to really embrace the best in emerging practices that had been developed in the field. So our goal was really to meet this need by providing all of this knowledge and guidance in one place, with the result being that the JAN workplace accommodation tool kit. It is an online tool kit that really captures and continuously updates.

We have put the past version out, the first version, the first iteration last year. And we'll be enhancing it with a number of new videos and materials in 2017 So it is organic and will be growing.

>> LINDA: Great I just want to ask you to provide some of your top best practices for employers who want to follow your advice.

>> LOUIS ORSLENE: Let me offer the top ten practices for creating inclusion. One is adopt a culture of access for all. With universal design for your buildings, technology, meetings, and trainings. All of this reduces the need for individualized accommodations. Also, ensure the accessibility of a career portal or pre hire assessment. And be aware that JAN will do an initial assessment for you using our SNAP tool and provide a report card.

Focus on diverse abilities that contribute to higher productivity and innovation. Don't let preconceptions limit the organization's success. Develop an internal value proposition and share it broadly. Everyone needs to know why inclusion is important, and communicate this often. Create a centralized accommodation fund and an integrated or harmonized model. A single point of leave and accommodation oversight. If you need more information about how to do this, we have an article in the tool kit about how two of our customers tackled it

If we can go to the next slide. Also, purchase or develop a tracking system. It's essential to track accommodations New supervisors need to know who currently has accommodations. Your boss needs to know how many people are being accommodated. So even if it's a simple Excel spreadsheet, track the accommodations.

Leverage commonly requested accommodations by job

13

function to develop an internal catalog of accommodations. So if you track through a tool, you can create this catalog and determine what you can provide without going through an elaborate interactive dialogue, which is really time-saving.

Next, embed at least one accessibility expert in your IT team Join the International Association For Accessibility Professionals. This will be sure that you don't develop any services that are inaccessible to the public

Gather and report meaningful metrics. So report data to show the impact that you're making.

Develop a task bank of jobs that a person can perform when unable to perform their prior duties this isn't busy work or light duty. This is a bank of tasks valuable to your supervisors so they can receive the help they need while helping an employee recovering from an injury or a medical condition engaged in the workplace. Those are our top ten. Thanks very much for letting me share this information with you.

>> Thanks. Perfect. Next up we want to move into a critical issue. This is one we hear about all the time, that is the important role that front line supervisors and managers play in making sure that the employers comply with the law. Here to discuss this issue with us is JAN's other co-director, Anne Hirsh. Welcome.

Let's talk about some of the problems that you're aware of that can occur when they're not properly trained

>> Sure, Linda. Thanks very much. Supervisors and managers play a real important role in managing anyone, but certainly with people with disabilities. Cornell university has conducted a study that found that 60% of employees with disabilities are more likely to disclose their disability to their supervisor than to human resources. Think about that. If the manager is not trained or knowledgeable about how to recognize and then how to handle a request, there's going to be a problem In your hand-out there's a link to a report from Cornell that discusses many of this It will be helpful in formulating how to develop these plans within your work.

What happens if someone with a disability is having difficulty on the job because of a limitation related to their disability and is not comfortable requesting accommodation? All too often they start having performance issues. Who is usually first to notice this? The manager or supervisor. We hear this all too often at JAN An individual does not disclose a disability or request accommodation until there is a performance issue and they're called to task.

Another reason that managers and supervisors are integral is they usually know the position inside and out next to that person doing the job. They're usually the most knowledgeable about how the work is done, so to contribute to that discussion in making reasonable accommodations Yes, training is required in this issue, first and foremost training how to recognize a

14

question for accommodation and then what to do. And all of this will hopefully avoid power struggles that can occur when problems occur in the workplace. We all know that power struggles usually mean that work is not getting done on time or effectively.

>> Exactly. And I want to ask you a follow-up question to that discussion, Anne. Another issue that I know we hear about a lot that can happen in the workplace is when a new supervisor or manager comes in and that person is not properly trained. Can you talk about some of the problems that can happen there?

>> Absolutely And that is again, something that we hear frequently In addition to what I just mentioned, change happens. And what we encourage managers to do is be prepared That supervisor can change because they go on detail or advance or just an abrupt change of jobs. And if that communication about what accommodation was implemented is not transferred, again, things will break down. The accommodation will be discontinued or disrupted. An example of that is if somebody is informally approved to work on a flexible schedule where they come in an hour late and stay an hour later, and that communication is not transferred to the new supervisor, of course they're going to question it. Of course there's going to be some disruption, which would not have to occur if that was communicated properly.

The other thing that changes in the workplace are the tools that are used or how work is done. I was speaking with a federal employee the other week that they have knowledge that their telephone system is about to change, and they have concerned about whether the amplification device that they use is going to still work in this change. It's an opportunity for them, and a need for their supervisor to be aware of that concern, because they probably will have to involve other departments in the transition of accommodation when things change.

There's medical conditions, they also do change, hopefully for the better. It's very important for that supervisor, whether it's the current supervisor or the new supervisor is aware of what to do should there be a change and how to progress so that the individual can continually be effectively accommodated.

>> Great. Thanks, Anne. So, as you guys could hear, the role of the supervisor/manager is critical, and you really need to make sure that these problems don't arise. So Anne, can you talk about what you think are the top best practices for overcoming the problems that you described? Just anything that you would like to share with our audience for addressing these issues?

>> Certainly, let me start with a comment not really a best practice. But in our years of doing this work, the supervisor or management role is simply to use good management techniques. That sounds like oversimplifying it, but it's something to always keep in mind in the back of your head. For someone who is trained to be a good manager, these things usually

15

come pretty easily. Best practices include creating an environment where everyone feels supported in requesting and implementing accommodation.

Additional issue we hear about, especially if there is reluctance or concern by other parties, the employee or supervisor as to whether an accommodation will be effective is consider implementing an accommodation on a trial basis. Be clear that is what you're doing and set a hard date as to when you will do the initial check as to how things are going and tweak it if it needs to be.

Another is be sure there's an open line of communication. The employee and supervisor should note who the key decision-maker is on the accommodation and have access to that person. But the employee and the supervisor need to be told, the other has been informed that the accommodation is approved, denied, implemented, or on a trial basis or whatever the situation is. Most federal policies will require this to be done in writing, a conversation with all parties before or after is a good idea. There are also record-keeping requirements. Adhering to those rules especially laid out in section 501 now should help with effective accommodation.

Another good practice is to recognize supervisor success in being instrumental in implementing effective accommodation. I'm not saying violate any rules of confidentiality But recognize that a supervisor used good management techniques and followed best practices through the accommodation process Can you do this during the supervisor's performance review? Why not. If the supervisor knows someone is paying attention and recognizing how they manage employees with disabilities who need accommodations, they're going to pay attention to agency policy and practice. It goes to the old saying that what gets measured gets done, and what Aaron was saying, focus on results.

Another best practice is to be sure that everyone, especially those managers and supervisors understand the role of confidentiality We want to be sure they're not releasing information about health conditions or disabilities who are not on a need-to-know basis.

I'm sorry My theme throughout has been education and training. Managers and supervisors need to have easy access to the required policies and procedures and need to know how to get access to those as well. The USDA target program and others, you'll find links to those programs on the hand-out. They need to be aware of federal procurement practice. We have heard about situations where the accommodation has been approved. It's not something CAP or Target or the entity may use or purchase, and it breaks down or stalls because there is not knowledge of the federal procurement practice

They need to know who those key personnel are. They need to be trained on how to access the key appropriate staff to support them in their accommodation issues. And they need access

16

to online and in-person training and time to do it. It's really difficult with a busy schedule. Supervisors and managers have busy schedules, but it needs to be carved into their schedules. On your hand-out, you will also see links to the various training programs from CAP and Target. They have training programs from disability etiquette to how to communicate with somebody, perhaps, who is deaf. To use of specific assistive technologies to implementing ergonomics in your work setting.

In-person training through EEOC, EEOC Axel conference. If you use a tracking system, there's one specific to federal training agencies. If you send people to the trainings, why not when they come back, have them do some type of informational session or training for managers and supervisors who maybe can't get to the in-person trainings.

And last but not least, check out JAN's archived trainings online and the trainings mentioned here as well

>> And I wanted to let your listeners know that we do reference CAP and Target on Twitter and we got a couple of comments. One said there's a need for oversight of reasonable accommodation. The delay for these transfers can go up to or over six months.

>> That doesn't really surprise me. That's what we hear a lot of from both individuals who are federal employees as well as people working to try to implement that accommodation. My hope is that once the regulations and overview, that we get some streamlining in the processes.

>> And we had a comment related to those as well, implementing the PAS and reasonable accommodations, the new things and regulation into their policies. I'm not going to mention the agency, but it's one of the larger federal agencies and they're currently devising a policy right now.

>> That's good to hear. >> Things are happening. With that, we're going to take a

five-minute break. >> We are. Go get your coffee, your chocolate, whatever

you need. We'll be back in five minutes with our next segment. >> All right. Next up, we're going to move into

reasonable accommodation, our favorite topic, and some of the things that can trip employers up. We're going to give you practical ideas for dealing with them. Here to start us off and provide information is our ADA section 501 specialist, Tracey.

>> Thanks for having me. >> Can you start with the overview of the services we

provide related to the issues that we're going to be talking about? We want to be sure people know what we're able to provide.

>> Just to let you know a little about JAN, we represent the most comprehensive resource for job retention and technical assistance, and similarly section 501 of the rehab act, which prevents employment discrimination in the federal sector and requires federal employers to reasonable accommodate applicants

17

and employers barring hardship. We want to lead employers through the steps and provide

deck any call assistance on the requirements of the ADA and section 501 by helping employers understand the applicable regulations. We understand best practices of providing reasonable accommodations in the workplace. Basically we do this by offering one-on-one individualized consultation to assist or customers with their specific questions under section 501, but JAN is not a legal service and we do not provide legal advise We'll advise customers to seek assistance when necessary. But we handle each situation on a case-by-case basis. We can explain the regulations in layman's term and also use our experience to offer targeted technical experience in a practical way. We use the standards that are set forth under title 1 of the ADA, because the standards used under section 501 are the same standards that are applied under title 1 of the ADA. This means that if you receive information from us as follow-up, the information will often be from the ADA standards and won't specifically be from the rehab act. But the rehab act is the applicable law. Next slide.

One of our objectives is to offer practical tools and guidance, best practices, compliance resources that really facilitate engagement in the interactive accommodation process. So JAN offers an extraordinary numbers of compliance, assistance, and accommodation resources through our website at askJAN.org included hundreds of publications, resources by disability, topic, and limitation. We have legal libraries that include EEOC regulations. We have a JAN blog and a quarterly e-news that hits on topics specific to compliance issues. What this means for our customers is we both create and use the best available information and resources to guide employers in engaging and making accommodation decisions In our consultation with employers, we remind our customers to be informed about their agency's reasonable accommodation procedures because federal agencies are required to have these in place as you've heard a good bit about earlier today.

Under federal executive order 13164, and the new section 501 regulations mentioned earlier today creates some additional requirements related to documentation of reasonable accommodation procedures. For example, employers will be required to provide a written explanation when a request for reasonable accommodation is denied.

For those of you who might need guidance on developing or improving procedures, some of you may be reviewing your procedures at the time knowing there's probably going to be a bit more scrutiny, you may want to take a look at the resources provided by the EEOC on developing reasonable accommodation procedures. For example, they offer a document related to providing practical advice for drafting and implementing reasonable accommodation procedures. And then of course, what

18

better to do than to model your own procedures after the EEOC's reasonable accommodation process as well. So there are some resources to help you with that. You can turn to the ask JAN website to find those documents. And on your handout, you'll find there's a link to EEOC guidance documents. You can find these reasonable accommodations procedure documents in that same area of our website.

For, JAN consultants are not knowledgeable about each agency's reasonable accommodation policy, but we can certainly provide information about accommodation and ADA best practices and guide employers in their effort to be uniform and con sis tense in applying policies and procedures. Next slide?

I know that JAN does not provide legal assistance or advice. We do share regulations. We share enforcement guidance. We use resource documents that are made available by the EEOC to help employers make decisions about providing reasonable accommodations. The formal enforcement guidance provided by the EEOC under the ADA also applies to reasonable accommodation situations arising under the rehab act. Here I have included some of the most commonly used EEOC enforcement documents that we use regularly to provide technical assistance. You'll find within a lot of these documents that there's some very common situations that you might face, and also some stickier situations that you may need a little bit more technical assistance on. You'll also see that you run the life cycle of the employment process. Pre-employment related issues, reasonable accommodation on the job, questions related to disability-related inquiries, and then also dealing with performance and conduct standards. These, of course, are just a few examples of the guidances that are available. And you can use the link again on your hand-out to find more information and additional guidance that may be useful to you.

>> And I just want to say we also tweeted that link. >> I know you span all of our teams here at JAN and

specialize in talking with employers about legal issues in the capacity that you described that we're able to process people. Can you talk about just a few of the accommodation issues that you think are the trickiest for our federal customer?

>> Absolutely. Of course, all accommodation situations are unique and must be handled individually, but some of the most common tricky accommodation issues that I discuss with federal employers focus on a central number of complex topics Many are not specifically addressed, which makes it more complicated for us. We only have a short amount of time here today, but I can address some of the more common the topics I would like to start with commuting issues. One of the questions JAN frequently receives is whether the ADA requires an employer to provide accommodations for an employee with a disability who has trouble getting to and from work because of limitations related to their medical impairment. It's a tough one. In general, employers

19

aren't responsible for transporting employees to and from work. That responsibility falls on the individual. But when an employee's commute is impacted by a medical impairment, then an employer may need to consider providing accommodations relating to the commute, providing that the accommodations are reasonable. The EEOC decides where work is going to be performed, and there's a barrier in some situations. So for example, allowing an employee to work from home as needed or regularly, or adjusting a work schedule so that someone can access public transportation at specific times because they're unable to drive or use -- or because they're unable to drive. Or providing a designated parking space that might be close to the building when a lack of accessible park something a barrier to getting to work These, of course, are some of the most common examples that can set up some tricky scenarios when an employer is trying to decide how to accommodate somebody.

>> I'm going to interrupt you We've got a question that fits right in there. You're talking about a commute and accommodations related to it. This attendee says if the only restriction that an employee has is a driving restriction, does the law require an agency to provide an accommodation in another location?

>> That's a hard question, Beth But I'll take it. That's a great question, actually. It's one where, well, frankly, the regulation doesn't address this specifically. This is one of those times where you have to take a look at, does the individual have an impairment? Does it limit their ability to get to work? Obviously their restriction is related to a medical impairment? How does it affect their ability to perform work? As far as looking at a different location, sometimes we'll get the issue of, well the person has a two-hour commute and they can't handle the commute because of the disability And it's a little bit tricky. You know, I think it is possible to take and look at other locations as a form of accommodation The regulation does not specifically state whether or not an employer has to reassign the individual to a particular location for a reason related to the commute. I think you're going to have to look at it case by case and make sure that the person is eligible to receive an accommodation based on the impairment that they have. And then, you know, from there, decide what's reasonable. If, you know, if you're looking at reassignment, it's going to be based on whether or not there is another position and perhaps, at a location that might be closer to that person's home. But if it's one where I would say there's not one answer to that question. So you're going to have to look at it case by case.

>> Okay. Sounds good. Linda, what's your next question? >> I'm going to make her continue talking about the

issues that she thought she'd get out of talking about. >> Let's talk about another hard one Another issue is

telework and it's a hard one. We do get a lot of questions around

20

this as an accommodation. Many do allow it in general, but when it's not allowed, sometimes telework is a form of accommodation because a person might need that due to their disability. We have received requests as to whether telework needs to be permitted And questions about what equipment must be provided for an employee to telework. Does an employee have to provide an ergonomic chair? In general, if the employer doesn't require workstation equipment for all teleworking employees, then it's not necessary for this employee's accommodation issue. It may depend on the customary practices related to telework practices. And what you will find me say after all of these particular tricky issues is it's always going to be case by case. There are a lot of factors that come in play when you're deciding what might be a reasonable accommodation.

And next we received a lot of questions about service and emotional support animals in the workplace. Again, another sticky issues. Employers inquire about service versus emotional support It's our understanding that because there's not a specific definition of service animal, employers may have to consider allowing an employee to bring in an animal that doesn't meet the Title 3 service definition. So an emotional support or therapy animal may need be considered as a workplace accommodation Employers don't have to allow an employee to bring an animal into the workplace if it disrupts the workplace. Employers also wonder how to handle situations where other employees have allergies to or fear of dogs, and these situations can be complex and it may be a case where both parties need to be accommodated in some way. JAN offers several resources. For more information, go to the askJAN.org site Go to the A-Z section to learn more Maybe we can tweet that out there to, Beth.

>> Okay. That's good. >> Other tricky topics include attendance and leave

issues. I deal with these every single day. We don't have enough time today to get into much on this topic, but we used the guidance available from the EEOC to help employers through these challenging issues. So for example, helping them recognize that leave is a form of accommodation, and how to assess a new hardship in that kind of an accommodation scenario, so that can be challenging. It's something that you can look at on the A to Z page of our site on the topic of leave as well.

Just a few more examples, but sometimes tricky issues involve what might be considered personal use items like a space heater for a person with arthritis or a scooter for a person with MS. We can help the employer sort out whether or not the item is only needed for work-related purposes. Sometimes items that might normally be considered personal use items can become a needed accommodation. Again, depends on the facts of the situation. It's something that we can help you sort through. Finally we received questions about logistical issues like transferring accommodations to other departments in an agency when an employee

21

takes a different position. I think this is unique to the federal government. The federal government is a model employer, so you have a lot of people who might have accommodations in place, and you might have individuals who are career federal employees who might go from one position to another within an agency. Sometimes that question comes up as to whether or not a person can take a piece of equipment with them to another agency, even though it's a different department. That will probably depend on policy and practice within the agency. That's not going to be something that is governed under the section 501 regulations so much as taking a look at what happens in that agency.

We also receive questions about establishing centralized accommodation funds to make providing equipment easier. And finally how to handle situations when new supervisors come on board and change accommodations that have been provided long-term. Anne did a good job of talking about those issues and how important it is to train new management. This is something we frequently address with our customers. We field a wide range of tricky issues and we're here to help employers address all of them

>> Can you talk about your top practical tips or best practices for dealing with the issues you mentioned or any tricky accommodation issues? What are your tips to federal agencies for dealing with these things.

>> I really try to keep things practical and simple. One of the first things you want to make sure you're doing is making sure that those who are responding to accommodation requests know how to recognize the request and are knowledgeable about how to implement the accommodation policy, so they know when and how to engage with the process.

So that mean when it's made known that a change is needed at work because of a medical impairment that management knows when and how to respond to those types of situations. Also when it's decided that the interactive process is necessary based on receiving that request for accommodation, you want to engage in the interactive process with what I would call a solution-oriented approach. So you're approaching the situation and looking for solutions. If you're trying to approach the situation looking for a way to avoid providing accommodations, this is risky and unproductive. So stay focused on working towards reasonable accommodation solutions that really will lead to successful employment outcomes. Remember the federal government should be a model employer of individuals with disabilities and the new section 501 regulations will hold employers to a higher standard now than before.

During the process you want to recognize what you don't know and gather information to explore and implement effective accommodation solutions I can't tell you how many people I talk to who don't realize at first that they don't have enough information to make accommodation decisions. And so JAN can help

22

guide employers through the interactive process and help you identify the important questions that you need to ask in order to procedural effectively in that interactive process. So a lot of working through that interactive process is knowing what you don't know and asking the right questions to move to the next step. Next slide?

Speaking of JAN being your guide in the interactive process, it's important to use the best available information and resources to make accommodation decisions. That means tapping into resources internally and externally that are knowledgeable about accommodations and the interactive process. I suggest creating a tool kit of resources that's at the ready for you when you come up with situations. That may be difficult and challenging, and you know that you have other resources that you can tap into, including JAN consultants using the askJAN.org website And of course keeping the EEOC guidance documents available. Quite frankly, there are questions that come up when you can look through that guidance and find the answer to that question because you're not the only person who's asked that question. So EEOC has you covered with those guidance documents

Also going back to the point I made earlier about engaging, don't make it difficult. Provide accommodations that are reasonable and effective, and do it without delay. It really shouldn't take significant analysis to determine if somebody is entitled to receive an accommodation and the process in determining what accommodations can be provided, it doesn't have to be that difficult. Use the available resources and make it happen.

My final tip is three-fold. Be uniform and consistent. Always, always, always document the interactive process every step of the way. This is for your benefit and the employee's benefit. And finally establish and maintain a message for tracking accommodations to monitor and improve accommodation practices this is something that will be required under the new regulations as well. So with those tips, hopefully you can engage in the process. You can know who your resources are and take advantage of JAN for you

>> We've got a couple of questions about telework The first question is if an agency doesn't allow telework for others, do you need to have it available for an accommodation? What if the security of data is concerned?

>> That's a great question. EEOC does make it clear that even if an employer does not have a telework program, that they may need to consider telework as an accommodation for an individual with a disability. What they're say something that exception might need to be made because if that is a way that will enable that individual to work and perform their essential job duties, then the employer has a duty to consider that. That being said, you've got to look at every situation case by case. Obviously not every job can be a telework job. If you're

23

presented with a request to telework, you want to take time to take a look at what does this person do? What are their essential job duties? Can they be performed full-time? Can they be performed at home part of the time? What type of work can they do in a remote location, and can it be done effectively? If you're in a situation where the individual's having to serve customers face-to-face, for example, then working from home is probably not going to work out. So you have to take the time to assess the position and what that person does and whether it's reasonable or not If they can't perform the essential job duties at home, it's not going to be a reasonable accommodation and it wouldn't be something that's considered.

As far as data and if that's an issue and confidential information is an issue, it's plausible that it may not be a reasonable accommodation. You will be forced to take a look at what are the parameters around you keeping that information secure. Is there a way to do that in a remote location? I wouldn't say that's an automatic reason to deny a telework request, but it's going to be factored into determining whether or not it's reasonable

>> This is a similar question, yet different. Let's say the agency has a telework program, but the individual has to work in a position for a year for an individual to be qualified for it Can you expedite the telework agreement even if the supervisor feels they may not completely be ready to work independently because they have a lot of questions?

>> Okay. From a practical standpoint, from a, you know, the standpoint of looking at reasonable accommodation, it may be possible to expedite that. From the standpoint of even though you have this policy that says you need to work the one year, refining policies is also a form of reasonable accommodation. If it's necessary because of the disability, and it is reasonable to modify that policy for this individual, and it may be possible to expedite that process. If there are concerns related to whether or not the individual is ready to work in that capacity, one of the things that I suggest to employers and individuals alike is to consider temporary accommodations. If you have concerns about whether or not it's going to work, you can give it a trial period and see how it goes.

I think it's very important with a telework arrangement to make sure that you have parameters in place for supervision, objectives. What goals the individual needs to be meet. So you want to work all of that out ahead of time and get that in place to ensure that the individual can be successful. Thin give it a try. Write up a temporary agreement and see if it works for three months and then decide what to do from there

>> Thanks and thank you for all of the information you've provided If anybody has follow-up questions for Tracie, you can find her here at JAN.

>> Thanks so much, Linda.

24

>> All right. Next we're going to talk with members of our various teams Many of you probably know if you've used our services, we are divided into specialty teams based on what disability the employee has that you're trying to accommodate. We have an entrepreneurship team that helps start or maintain self-employment. We won't be hearing from them today, but you might be interested in knowing that we do have that team.

What we'd like to do now is have each of our disability teams talk about the recent trends they're seeing in the calls and what suggestions they have for providing accommodations related to these trends.

>> Thanks!I spend a good part of my day talking about requests related

to employees with hearing impairments. That could include deafness, an employee who is hard of hearing. Another big chunk of the calls are about employees with vision impairment. That might include somebody with low vision. Perhaps somebody with no vision or maybe someone with a visual field deficit where they see well within the area that they can see, but other things outside of that zone, they're not just not aware of. It could also include color vision deficiency, which most of us know better as color blindness It's a misnomer because there's a lot of variation among people who perceive colors differently. Some perceive colors in a way that we might think of as a gray scale, but most of them will perceive colors a little bit, just differently from everyone else. So I'd like to encourage everybody to move away from the term color blindness and start thinking in terms of color vision deficiency. If you call, I will definitely use that term.

We also take a few calls, not as many as I would like, on employees who are deaf/blind or a combination of vision and hearing impairment. We would love to hear more questions on that topic and help develop more resources for them And the sensory team takes questions about future related impairments, what you might call communication disorders That's one of my favorite topics, coming from the land of language pathology. I love when we get a call about someone who needs to use a speech generating device and has to use the phone. That's fascinating for me. If you are have those questions, please call in

>> We didn't put these, this information up on slides, so you're just talking about them without any visual. So I wanted to give you a head's up on that.

>> That's okay I got the slide in my head. >> I do want you to mention the other types of things

that you guys cover some things beyond what we think of as traditional sensory. Can you mention those, too?

>> We just handle quite a few conditions that don't fit neatly into the categories. Some are infectious diseases, blood disorders, for example, sickle cell anemia. The endocrine system like diabetes and we also get quite a few calls related for

25

respiratory impairments and things like sinus issues. Anything related to that fragrance sensitivity area that's really an area where we're seeing more and more calls.

>> You take questions related to individuals who've had transplants, too, right?

>> That's true We do take those questions. Usually we handle the questions when the person is post transplant and perhaps they are taking medications to suppress their immune system such that their immune system is perhaps a little bit compromised and they need to avoid germs Kind of goes a little bit along with the resources that we have for infectious decides.

>> Teresa, based on the various types of conditions that you deal with on your team, I want to mention, because I think this affects your team the most. We get to see national trends and then we start getting accommodation questions related to the trends. One of the trends is the open office where they all sit in one large open room. And in some cases they don't even get an assigned permanent work space. This is what we're hearing, they just have to sit wherever there's a space open when they get to work. Can you talk about some of the issues you've seen that come up on your team related to the open office concept? If you have tips for how to deal with these issues, we'd like to hear those as well

>> Thanks, Linda. That is a great question. I'll be honest with you. When we first started to hear that federal agencies were going over to the open office plans, the only time I ever thought about looking for a different job was then. I could see all sorts of issues on the horizon. And we did when they first became popular, get a lot of questions where people planned the open office space without realizing that a person might need accommodation. But with proper preparation, an open office environment can work really, really well.

>> I think Teresa is a positive person. We have the sort of open rooms where it's a little bit of a free for all every morning

>> That can cause a real problem for someone who needs to have a very specific set-up either ergonomically or in terms of thor assistive technology that they need. For example, if you've got somebody who uses a computer very well but that they need screen reading software and a braille display and OCR technology, those need to be there and available for the person. If somebody else tries to come and sit at the workstation because it looks cool or it's next to the window that's going to be a problem.

So the first thing to consider is finding a way to reserve spaces just to get the same functionality. I guess it's very, very important that people be able to get into their workday easily If you can find a way to do that, that's very good. One of the early days of the popularity, can we put the person's name on their workstation? Well, we didn't think that was a great idea because, of course, we've got to consider

26

confidentiality. And even though it doesn't say, you know, so and so has a reasonable accommodation, don't sit here, it still is attaching a person's name to a workstation with a bunch of equipment. So then we started to get questions like, can we say reserved for ADA? Or reserved for accommodation? Can we use some type of disability language here to indicate that people shouldn't sit here? And again, that's potentially problematic. What I like is just a very simple reserved sign Like a tabletop sign. If you watched "Friends," they had a reserved sign on their table That is elegant and easy. There are systems now where you can reserve through a computer-based system, so you don't necessarily have to put anything on the desk. Someone who is not assigned to that station, if they try to use it, they won't be able to log in. That can also be a nice, elegant way to do it.

Again with assistive technology, if you're not going to preset it, if you're going to have the person retrieve it, you need to think logically about how that's going to be stored and secured. I know some people think that you can fit everything into a desk drawer and lock it. But with some of your larger things like an oversized monitor, it's not really going to work there are some things that logically, you need a larger space to store it in. And logically, might need to be preset before the person gets there.

With your smaller things, like a specialized mouse or something of that nature, sure, I think a drawer is fine. Some people may even carry them back and forth with them to and from their homes, especially if they're teleworking part of the week. I think you have to think about the type of technology that the individual is using when you're thinking about how it's going to be set up and stored. Something like a mouse, a person may be able to just bring that with them or retrieve it from a drawer and plug it in by themselves move on with their day. Something more complex, you want to have presets so that the person doesn't have delays and they can be efficient.

Another tip would be to make sure that if you're going to have shared supply areas and shared common areas, that you make sure that those are accessible. That doesn't just mean making sure that the doors are wide enough and all of that People need to be able to find the things that they're looking for if there are supplies in labeled drawers, you want to make sure that the labels are functional for everyone You want to make sure, also, that those areas are suitable in terms of fragrances for someone who might need a fragrance-free path of travel They're also going to need a fragrance-free path of travel to where they go to get their paper clips.

Or the person might need assistance, but it's more efficient and dignified if a person can do those things themselves. Another type of reservation that you might want to plan for is to have some individual room that a person can reserve on an as-needed basis Some may need to be in an

27

individual room much of the time for concentration purposes or to avoid irritations in the air that triggers symptoms. If you're planning an open office space, I think it's wise to plan some small area where people can go to work independently on an as-needed basis, but plan for more than one in case somebody needs it longer or more frequently.

Now when it comes to an open office environment, there are always issues with noise. I can't tell you how many calls I get about this and people who cannot tolerate the noise levels. For that, there are noise absorption materials. Things like sound absorption panels, things like carpeting that is better than a solid flat floor. If you do have cubicles, those will break up sound somewhat, but they still allow a lot of sound over the top.

You want to think about including materials that will make the space a little more tolerable acoustically right from the design process Of course you can always go back and add some noise absorption panels later on. And there are individualized solutions that may be helpful as well. I'm thinking here of noise cancellation technology, specifically noise cancelling headphones. We're starting to see the emergence on the market of noise cancelling ear buds. They're a little hard to get your hands on and I think they would get lost awfully easily, but they are there.

Sometimes a person who is using this type of noise cancellation technology might need additional accommodations, too. Maybe something similar to what you might provide to someone who is hard of hearing. Something like an alerting device like a light signal for their telephone, making sure that the space has strobe lights on the fire alarms. It could include other things as well. There are some vibrating pagers available that can be linked with little pendant buttons that a supervisor or co-worker could wear. Silent call communications has a good example of that. And they also have pagers that can be linked into things like the fire alarm system and other types of alerting devices. Some people do still want to install what we might call sound field noise cancellation or sound field white noise. It's been a popular option of late to control the sound in an area where there are a lot of people talking. When it works well, it works very, very well, but for someone who has a noise sensitivity or someone whose hearing aids are picking up on sounds that most of us filter out, those can really cause a problem.

If you have someone telling you that the white noise is bothering them, interfering with concentration or they can't get their hearing aid to stop picking it up, I would say believe them and look at temporarily discontinuing the use of that while you look at other options.

Now another way to handle this is to designate some space as a quiet zone. So if you have the luxury of having more than one open office room, you might designate one as a quiet

28

area for people who really want to go in and concentrate and people who have noise sensitivity issues or maybe something like tinnitus that is triggered by the noise may want to work in there. And you can set up your workstation reservation system so that people can be there on a long term basis Another solution is to allow people to use conference rooms.

You can use a similar approach with fragrances. It's almost impossible to completely eliminate fragrances from a workplace You can encourage people to try to use personal care products that are fragrance-free Or if that's not possible that have only a light scent if any, but it's difficult to totally eliminate fragrances from a work environment. That doesn't mean that we can't all do our best and that we can't designate some areas where people will try harder. You may find that you have multiple people with fragrance sensitivities who could potentially work together in the same room.

And some people without disabilities may just prefer a low fragrance environment as well. Same approach applies when we're talking about low light Some people really prefer to work in a darker room. Some people may really need to because of the way their eyes or brain works. Photo sensitivity is something that is highly individual. But if you have one space that you decide is going to be perpetually low light, then those people who prefer that can gravitate towards it And people who need that for a disability related reasoning can be designated to work there.

We often get questions about what can we do? This person wants us to turn off all the fluorescent lights, but we can't do that. If you have a designated area, that addresses that problem

Some people work better with natural light, so you may want to designate a few long term reserved spaces in an area with a lot of natural light It might be important to create some private spaces that may be smaller than office places that need a private space for something like testing blood sugar, injecting medication or usable by someone who needs to use a nebulizer for their asthma.

I want to underline this. It's very important to be sure we maintain the confidentiality of those who are receiving the accommodation.

>> All right, thanks. Those are great ideas on that one. >> Linda, if you don't have to have this, don't ever do

it This cannot possibly be a good idea if you have any employees over 40

>> Why's that? >> Because we're aging, and I have to have my work space

a certain way. We would kill each other is what I'm saying if we had an open work space.

>> We probably would. >> If you do an open work space here, I'm going to look

for another job.

29

>> That's what I'm saying. I'm saying if you're a manager and someone brings this idea up, walk them out of your office. This is a bad idea for accommodations.

>> Yeah. I think there are some benefits, but it definitely is a challenge.

>> There are no benefits. This is too much of a hassle. What about temperature? We had someone ask about how do you control the temperature in this situation?

>> That would be tricky. >> You don't. >> You give out sweaters. >> Or cooling vests. >> I want to ask you another general question, and this

is something I go to you every time I get a question related to equipment compatibility, you see me at your door. I'm going to ask you to talk about some of the biggest compatibility issues you hear. For example, if an employee wears a hearing aid and can't use the telephone, can you talk about the things you hear from federal employers and a broad overview of what you suggest for dealing with them?

>> I'm so glad that you asked about hearing aids,because hearing aid compatibility does come up a lot. It's something we get across all industry, not just in the federal sector. And we get questions about hearing aids in every setting you can imagine The most important thing to remember in terms of hearing aids is that different hearing aids have different features And the features that a hearing aid has make a big difference in the methods that are going to work to help the person using that hearing aid use the phone effectively. Now the two features that I usually ask about when I get these questions are P coils, and the other feature is blue tooth connectivity. Once I know whether or not somebody has those features in their hearing aid, I have an idea of where to go and what type of technology might be needed.

The other important thing to keep in mind is that every person who is hard of hearing hears a little bit differently from everyone else who is hard of hearing In other words, there's not a good cookie-cutter approach. Others will say I miss the old days when I could throw an amplified hand set on to a phone and be done, and I think many long for simple solutions but technology has made it easier to meet people's individual needs. That's a good thing. But now in the office environment, we have to customize our telephones. It's a complication, but it's a really good thing, because there's no simple amplifier as a hearing aid adjusted by a qualified audiologist. So the take-away is in order to decide what to put in to connect the hearing aid to the phone, you have to know about the hearing aid and what features it has. If the employee is knowledgeable about their own hearing aid, they might be able to tell you about it. But a lot of times they will be asking the audiologist or the company that

30

made the hearing aid about the best way to connect to the phone. But audiologists are a highly trained professional. If you have access to input from an audiologist, it makes sense to listen to what they have to say.

There are a few people who benefit from amplification but choose not to wear a hearing aid or who may prefer to take them off while using the phone and use a different type of amplification. One potential solution is the speech adjust-a-phone. There is no technology that can replace a hearing aid. But it is easy to adjust in a customized way.

That's my take-away on hearing aids >> All right. Thank you. I have one final question for

you before we take another quick break. This is something that I know you deal with a lot and that's interpreters. Can you talk about issues that come up related to interpreters and how employers might deal effectively with them?

>> Absolutely. One thing that employers ask is should we get an interpreter? We're concerned about confidentiality. Or we want to hire an interpreter but we can't get them to sign our NDA The thing to keep in mind is to provide interpreters, they do have a code of ethics that they are supposed to follow. And they will try to maintain your confidentiality. It goes further for those who are the video remote interpreters or providing interpreting for VRS, because they have to comply with the FCC's confidentiality requirements. I'm confident that you can find an interpreter who is going to meet your needs in terms of confidentiality and security There can also be internet security issues, things that your IT team will want to address. But again, you can usually resolve those If you can't, then you might use something like a shadow interpreter where you have an interpreter, what we might call a live interpreter or an interpreter, a person standing by the desk interpreting from the phone call if you truly cannot resolve security issue, that may be a work-around.

Also, it might cost a little more to get an interpreter with a level of security clearance, but you will probably be able to find someone. Now in terms of availability, we often will refer to RIDorg, they're a good resource for finding interpreters in different geographic areas. Do interpreters cost? Yes, they do. They are trained professionals. Sometimes people will ask us how much does it cost to get an interpreter for two hours in Manhattan? I don't keep a list. I suggest that people go to RID.org, pick a couple of names of agencies and get a couple of quotes And of course, undue hardship is harder to show in some settings than others.

The other thing you want to keep in mind is effectiveness. The whole reason for getting an interpreter is so that you'll have effective communication between the employee and whoever they're trying to communicate with. We all benefit when workplace communication is effective Why would you try to choose

31

a different option that's less effective if you can make the interpreter work? Now sometimes you might need an interpreter with specialized skills. For instance, someone who is deaf/blind might do better if they get an interpreter who has tactile interpreting skills. It probably doesn't come up very often in the workplace, but it may come up when interacting with consumers, but some who are deaf may benefit from an interpreting team that includes an interpreter like we're all familiar with and also a CDI or a certified deaf interpreter That's someone who is deaf and is an interpreter and deeply seeded in deaf culture and very aware of alternate ways to communicate and enhance the effectiveness of communication for some people who are Deaf

That type of interpreter exists, so be aware, and sometimes it might be necessary to engage their services.

People often contact us asking for alternatives to an interpreter. There is no option that truly replaces the need for an interpreter or a CART provider for that matter. Sometimes there is a way to communicate in another way that might reduce the amount of time that you may need an interpreter or may allow for a different way to communicate in certain situations. For those high stakes conversations, especially your interviews, discussions about performance and conduct or any kind you really need the communication to be effective, why not go with the most effective option?

Now I will talk for a minute about the different alternatives. There are various ways to communicate in other ways by relying on typing. That might be instant messaging. That might be using a device like the UB duo, that's designed for typing back and forth There are various apps that can enhance communication face to face Lip writer AAC is one. Another is Ava that came out of beta testing recently There are access technologies as well These are software that you would run on a pair of netbooks or laptops or a tablet. Some are interpretype, and more. If you want to know more about any options, please call at any time. Keep the goal of effective communication in mind.

>> And just to let people know that the registry where

they can locate interpreters as well as a list of CART providers has been tweeted.

>> Thank you, Beth. >> And resources ready to go. >> All right. And now we're going to take another

five-minute break We'll see you back here in five minutes. >> Welcome back, everybody. Next up is our motor team.

Famous motor team which consists of Elisabeth Simpson, team lead. It's been a long day. Lisa Mathess, senior consultant, and Matthew Mccord, consultant If you want to repeat your name so everybody can understand it, feel free. Welcome.

>> We at the motor team, we handle probably what you all might be thinking in terms of the common occupational or

32

non-occupational injuries. Anything that affects our mobility in general, so that could include, you know, from the shoulders down, rotator cuff injuries. Carpal tunnel disorders. Back impairments, leg, knee, the whole gamut there. Maybe some of the more traditional type impairments. We also deal with gastro intestinal disorders on our team. Heart conditions and body size, body odor, MS. That's a big one for sure.

>> You do everything. That's why you're so rowdy. If it moves you do it.

>> Or if you used to move it or you never moved it at all.

>> Good summary >> I want to ask about an issue that I know comes up.

Beth and I used to be on the motor team, and I remember dreading these calls, and that's the overlap between section 501 and workers compensation. Can you talk about these issues and any suggestions you have for dealing with them?

>> Sure. It certainly is a common question, I would say. A lot of the, or a majority of workers compensation issues have to do with mobility impairments or injuries that affect mobility. I would say that we can assist somebody or the employer as an individual is transitioning from a worker compensation program when they're coming off of workers comp Maybe they've been released to return to work, permanent restrictions, reached maximum medical improvement and then they fall under the ADA secondary to the workers compensation. Sometimes we'll get those calls that are strictly worker compensation related when it comes to federal programs covered. Typically we'll refer somebody right back to those programs if they're really at the initial stages of going through the workers compensation program and the process.

But, you know, when somebody again has been released or if they're going through return to work program under workers compensation, we're more than happy to offer any support that we possibly can. Also, of course, the guidance that we'll provide to that employer or that individual in terms of regulations and legislation would be strictly limited to the rehabilitation act or the ADA. So, kind of a secondary question that we get around medical documentation Typically I would say they have been working with one doctor, if not more They've probably got a decent amount of documentation around the claim. Even so they may be true. They may have a good amount of documentation. It depends on what that actually indicates when we're thinking about workplace accommodations when we think about the ADA. So it may be that an agency does need to get a little bit more additional information. For one, not everybody that's covered under workers compensation is automatically going to be covered under the ADA or the rehab act. So eligibility criteria for the workers compensation program is based on those regulations that have been put out and completely separate from the Americans with disabilities act or rehab act. First and foremost it is important

33

for the employer and the individual or the agency and individual to know that, yes, that person is, indeed, also covered under the ADA. Additional document can be provided to make that determination. Their capacity to return to work weather it be on a full-time or sometimes on a part time basis. The workers compensation documentation may provide the information, but it may not. And it may be that the documentation might be a little bit outdated. So if somebody has gone through a transitional work arrangement program or light duty program, maybe it's been three, six months There have been some improvements, it may be time to update that document So the agency could get that additional limited documentation to make sure it's sufficient and they're making the right accommodation decision So these programs might already be in place depending on the program, the workers compensation program that the person falls under. If not, it may be that that agency can look at creating a return to work program Really we're seeing that it's more of a benefit for employers to consider doing that so that you get individuals back on the job in some capacity that they are an asset to the agency or the company, that have work experience can use the skills and abilities in similar ways maybe with accommodations once they get back on the job.

It can reduce workers compensation costs and it really can have a positive impact on productivity as well. Transitional work arrangements. Those are really getting somebody back to work over a short period of time just increasing from a part time to a full-time status over a two month span or increasing the task that they're doing gradually. So easing somebody back into a job rather than throwing them back to a full-time status right off the bat after being out of work for a certain period of time, which really can be difficult for some individuals.

People who have been going through a workers compensation program may have been utilizing the VR services, vocational rehabilitation services. So it can be important for the agency to make sure that they're working with the right people. If somebody has been placed in a job through their workers compensation program, they may be in that kind of 60 or 90-day waiting period. Really, once somebody gets on the job, we may not always know exactly what's needed as far as the accommodation knows until they're back at work. The interactive process is really an ongoing one. Any time an accommodation need arises, it needs to be addressed by that agency. And of course, reassignment is kind of the accommodation of last resort. In some cases it really is the best option for one person. Maybe an individual is not able to go back to their previous job. Maybe it has been identified through the workers compensation process, working with the workers compensation providers and rehab providers and reassignment is an option that everybody is exploring and it may be that that individual needs accommodations for that new position, which of course is fine. So there might be

34

some overlap there as well to determine now that the person has been assigned this new job, they're in the position, what are their accommodations that might be needed and that's where the ADA might come into play as well.

When we talk about light duty, that's the area where workers compensation and the ADA differ the most It's the most clear-cut difference between the two When we're talking light duty we mean temporary or permanent work that is physically or mentally less demanding than normal job duties. What that boils down to is sometimes that means the essential functions of that job are eliminated in order for that position to be created into a light-duty position. It could mean that alternative work in general is created. And both of those things, so eliminating essential job functions or creating work are two things that EEOC has been pretty clear that those aren't required forms of accommodations. We don't have to eliminate essential job functions in order to make an accommodation, nor do we have to create work. Light duty is reserved for workers compensation. But if there are light duty positions that are reserved for workers compensation purposes, an employer may need to consider allowing somebody who is just covered under the ADA or rehab act to be temporarily reassigned to the temporary light duty positions. But if they are only light duty positions available, there is no necessity to require permanent duty.

>> Great. Thanks. And Lisa, I'm going to hit you with the

topic that makes me cringe, and I think it makes everybody here cringe. We actually have gotten some questions about this issue And I think you're going to be hitting some of the questions when you talk about that. And that topic is parking-related accommodations. So why don't you talk a little bit about why this subject makes us cringe?

>> Sounds good So the basic premise with parks under the ADA and rehab act, employers must provide reasonable accommodations that enable employees to enjoy equal benefits of employment So if an employer provides parking for all employees, then it will have to consider providing parking for employees with disabilities unless it would be an undue hardship. A lot of the points that we get called on daily, we have employers calling in saying lots are ADA compliant So we're good right? Perhaps. You may have a parking lot that is defined as accessible. You have a specific number of blue spaces. There's going to be that duty to consider that as an undue hardship. So having ADA compliant parking space may be the foundation, but again, there may be cases that you have to do further accessibility for a person with a disability.

So just like any other accommodation, an employer is entitled to medical documentation that there is an ADA disability. Of course assuming that the disability and/or the

35

need for the park something not obvious. We shouldn't be asking for medical documentation if the disability and the need for accommodation are obvious. So back to the ADA compliant parking lot, we get to state-issued placards. How do we work through that? So the placard, it doesn't automatically guarantee an accessible space for an employee in a private lot. The definition of disability between the two may be different to get that state issued placard may be one definition, versus to get parking as an accommodation, you have to meet the ADA and rehab act. So those two definitions may not line up. So an employer would probably still be entitled to go through the process.

And I think all of these tie together. And I'll be jumping around a little bit. ADA rehab act, you could probably require that the employees say in the employee section of the parking lot, you probably don't have to entitle them to park where the closer customer spots

>> Lisa, I want to highlight what you said because we've got a question that you just answered right there. That the employers could prohibit employees from parking in customer parking spots.

>> Right. Great. >> And the basic premise of that is customer spots are an

entitlement and not a benefit of employment. You don't need to guarantee equal access. It makes good busy sense to set aside as many spaces as possible. So, keeping the employees in the employee lot, letting the customer have the customer spots is practical guidance for working out one part of the parking debacle.

>> So as far as accommodation ideas go, whenever park something a headache, add parking spaces to the existing lot if you can. Assigning closer parking. We often see people issues permits so people with disabilities can access the spots Often we have the policies first-come, first-serve. Those might need to be modified as an effective accommodation. So kind of reserving those spots and issuing permits so the people with disabilities that have accommodations can get those effective accommodations. Moving the employee's workstation closer to the parking lot so they're not in the furthest corner in the sixth floor and limit that walking And then oftentimes allowing work from home to remove parking from the situation completely If the job is doable from home and can perform the essential functions, I think telework is a lot easier whenever we're maneuvering through the parking debacle.

Are there any other parking questions? >> I think you covered everything. >> Let's not bring it up. >> While we're on the subject -- >> I can't believe you asked that. >> Thanks, Lisa. That was a good overview. I don't think

there are any questions, but if any pop in, we'll interrupt Matt

36

and give them to you. >> I'm ready. >> Matt, I'm going to ask you to talk about a sensitive

topic that the motor team talks about, and that's medical conditions that create personal hygiene issues like body odor, toileting and grooming issues. I know you handle a lot of these questions, so if you could just talk about some of the problems you've heard about and your suggestions that you share with your customers for dealing with them.

>> Sure. First and foremost, it is a very personal thing and a lot of employers are hesitant to initiate that conversation. That's understandable that they be a little concerned about making people feel uncomfortable. The first thing to discuss is how should an employer bridge that gap and start with the dialogue? Because it is a very private topic, and the hesitation is understandable, remember to put yourself in the employee's shoes and how would you want that employer to bridge that topic with you You would want to approach it tenderly and from a cooperative manner just like you would for any other puzzle that would need to be solved in the accommodation arena. So arranging meetings and taking in a collaborative manner, what you can do, what can be helpful, that's the best way to go about it especially for sensitive subjects like this one. One of the most common suggestions that I provide for body odor concerns is allowing the employee to tend to the personal needs in the workplace, which seems like an obvious solution But things like flexibility in scheduling and providing private areas to attend to their needs. Maybe if you have a lot of restrooms, allowing for one to be a private restroom for them to utilize so they know they have a private space they can go to. Or moving the workstation closer to a restroom that they're allowed to use can be very helpful.

Perhaps allow some cleaning wipes in case there's accidental incontinence. It can be very helpful. Often it's helpful to tackle problems like this with more than one approach. Because of this, the next suggestion I'll often provide is focus more on minimizing the impact the odors have on co-workers. This can be achieved by using odor absorbing products or air purifiers around the workplace. It can be helpful to provide an air purifier inside the individual's office space as well especially if they happen to have a private work space that's already kind of enclosed by like doors, the air purifier can be much more effective in that environment If you're unsure where to look for products like these, we have listings of vendors on our website that you're free to use. If those do not work, and if, you know, if those accommodation options don't seem to be working out for you and if the job is compatible with it, like Lisa said before, reviewing whether or not the employee can work from other location or from home is always a good option, too. But sometimes the job in question might require interacting face-to-face with

37

public and customers. And those jobs normally aren't compatible with working from home. So if that's the case, then the other accommodation options really can't reduce the problem to an acceptable level, then I would normally suggest reviewing a reassignment to a position that doesn't require such direct contact with the public.

>> All right. Great. So we're almost out of time for the motor team. Are you up to the challenge of quickly answering a few questions?

>> Sure. >> Lightning round. >> This is the motor team lightning round. >> The motor team has always been long-winded. >> I don't know about that [ Laughter ] >> Here's your challenge. You know Beth will give you the

act if you don't meet your goal here. Can you just talk about assistive technology issues in the federal sector?

>> Sure, sure. So very quickly here because I do love assistive technology and really could talk about it for quite some time. Just to highlight the four bullet points that we have on the next slide. So in general, we do often get the general questions of someone needs a piece of equipment and who provides it? Do yo u, JAN, provide the equipment? The answer is no. It is primarily the employer's responsibility if it's not an undue hardship. We provide information and have a really great data base of vendors and products that we would be happy to search through if anybody has specific questions or looking for something in general, we're more than happy to point them in the right direction.

Has anybody talked about our cost benefit survey? >> And you have 30 seconds to do so. >> Oh my goodness We found that employers report to us

that assistive technology are, in general, providing an accommodation about 59% this past year, cost $0. Now I'm getting tongue tied. We have found that when accommodations are provided, there's no cost or those that do have a cost associated with them, the cost is about $500, and that cost has not varied over the years. So it's really quite minimal, I would say in the grand scheme of things. Of course, there are a lot of funding resources out there and vendors that are available for assisting an employer and identifying the right type of equipment that might be needed for an individual And there are really great resources out there. I think the wonderful organization, CAP, has already been mentioned today. The USDA Target center. Both of those programs can assist federal agencies with the acquisition of assistive technologies, depending, upon, on their eligibility requirements and whatnot They also have training programs, loan programs, partnerships with each other, vocational rehabilitational programs are a good point of contact or a

38

resource for locating or acquires assistive technology There are state assistive technology projects as well that we often refer to when someone is looking for a piece of technology

Now to wrap it up, we're more than happy on any team here, not just the motor team to point people in the right direction if they're looking for a piece of technology or to do some searches to find out what's available for an individual based on their needs

>> I want to make sure that we touch on outdoor accommodations. I think there's a misconception that we deal mostly in the office environment.

>> You have 30 seconds. >> Who's running this show? >> Elisabeth hogged the time. >> I'm running the show. I want to highlight that it's

not just an office environment that we deal with. >> It absolutely isn't, Beth, we thrive on the unique

situations. And e-mailing one another and seeing what's your take on this? Have you seen modifications to this type of something you need to outdoor work in the, you know, climate weather? And just really thinking, getting our brains working outside the norm. Yeah, we do take a lot of office calls. But with outdoor accommodations, since it is a unique situation, there are more technology options geared towards outdoor accommodations and mechanical devices that are designed to with stand weather and rough terrain. You'll find a lot on the JAN searchable online of the climbing restrictions and products that can overcome those things. Products for standing limitations and cooling clothing. Lots of products.

>> And we can finalize on our searchable online accommodation resource.

>> Absolutely. Always updating and adding. >> We're going to take a 30-second break while we get the

next team in here. We'll be right back. >> All right. We're in the final wrap of our three-hour

binge-a-thon And last but not least, I'd like to welcome our cognitive psych team.

>> This team isn't quite as rowdy. >> Nice, quiet team. >> Right. We try. >> Well behaved team. >> Welcome to both of you. And I want to ask Melanie to

briefly just talk about what do you guys deal with on your team? What kind of conditions?

>> We deal with all types of mental health impairments including depression, anxiety, bipolar, PTSD and others. Learning and intellectual disabilities, ADHD, TBI, sleep disorders, epilepsy, fibromyalgia. That covers it. Lots of variety.

>> So let's jump into some of the biggest issues your team deals with. It seems like, Melanie, every time we hear

39

something in the national news like a shooting, we start getting calls from employers who are worried about our employees with mental health impairments now and potential violence. Can you talk about this and what you discuss with these employers?

>> Sure. Employers often have questions about employees with mental health impairments And those concerns are about the workplace violence, and the best advice we can give is to help them understand not to make broad assumptions about individuals with mental health impairments, particularly PTSD. They should not assume that people with mental health impairments are more likely to be violent. The individual may or may not be at risk of harming himself or others. And here's more. Employers shouldn't assume that people with mental health impairments take or should take medication, that they can't work in a wide variety of jobs that require a wide variety of skills and ability. That they do not know what's best for them, have poor judgment or unable to cope with stress. Probably the biggest question employers ask is whether employees with PTSD pose a direct threat to themselves or others. People who have mental health impairments do not necessarily pose a direct threat to others or to themselves. Those who control their conditions through medication or therapy probably pose no current risk, even if direct risk exists, employers should consider reducing or eliminating the threat by providing reasonable accommodation. Here's a really important part. If employers have questions based on objective evidence about whether a specific employee's ability to do job functions will be impaired by disability or that the employee is or could be a direct threat to himself or others, then he can and it helps determine what accommodations may be helpful. Objective evidence clearly means that the employer has seen or heard or observed or it could be based on reliable information that was given to the employer by a reputable employee. But it cannot be based on just unsubstantiated fears or false assumptions that are based on the general fact that the employee does have PTSD. Let me stress that those are asking for accommodations to assist them with performance or conduct issues need to be taken seriously. It simply means as quickly as possible. Added stress would not be helpful to the situation. The ADA says that employers should not spend too much time analyzing medical document. Or those with disabilities who have asked for them. If an employee is stressed on the job, added stress by a prolonged or faulty accommodation process will only make things worse. Sarah's going to address issues with stress more thoroughly here in a few minutes.

It's very distracting, so employers should work really hard to make sure they don't add additional stress to the work situation when dealing with accommodation requests. And accommodations should be put into place to enable employees with limitations to do their job. Some may involve co-worker interactions, managing stress, and working effectively. The

40

sooner effective accommodations can be put into place to assist the employees, the better the situation will be for everybody Many are low to no cost and can be done very quickly such as modifying a schedule, allowing more breaks, and even working from home can be accomplished fairly easily and without delay. One of the most important accommodations and really just a crucial part of the accommodation process is to allow for open communication. Employers should -- to better understand their accommodation requests. I mentioned this and Sarah is going to do more about it. We realized there's stress involved in most positions. There are not jobs that don't have any kind of stress. When you're looking at accommodations, you really should look at those on an individual basis, because what is stressful for one person with PTSD or with bipolar or whoever, if it's not going to be stressful or may not cause stress for another person with that same disability, and I'm going to give you a really good example. I've used this a couple times. But it's a good example. I remember it from an employer who was just beside himself because a new employee was having an issue with his workstation that was so close to the employee lounge. And he was able to hear the microwave dinger, and it was escalating his stress level. Here's the part that is important.

When I ask if there's a place to relocate the workstation out of the range of the microwave, the employer said sure. That's an easy fix. That's looking at what is -- what is stressful to that one individual and trying to look at that to accommodate. We don't have to agree on the cause of the stress or reach a consensus, but we do have to recognize and work to provide alleviation to those triggers

>> Melanie, I do a lot of presentations related to mental health. Violence is about anger. It's not about mental health. It's not about being depressed or feeling anxious, it's about anger in some way. I think that's important for employers to take away from what you just said.

>> That's why it's so important to look at behavior and accommodation.

>> Great. Thank you guys. Melanie, I want to switch gears just a little bit here. Employees start all of the sudden start having performance or conduct problems and immediately think that a disability is causing that problem. How do you advise an employer to procedural in a situation like that?

>> You're very right. The issues of performance and conduct come up frequently and many are afraid to hold certain employees to the same standards that they hold others to for fear that the disciplinary process could trigger an adverse reaction or behavior. But best practices would say to hold all to the same performance and conduct standards to avoid any kind of discrimination. An employee with a disability may need accommodations to reach that standard but consistently holding all accountable for their conduct would be fair and a recommended

41

practice. Let's just talk briefly about performance and productivity They would be obligated to look at accommodating the individual to help them meet that standard. Ideally they should ask before the performance gets too low. The ADA does not require -- and the same goes for conduct The misconduct does not have to be excused. An employer can hold all employees to the same conduct standard. But then they would have to look to provide accommodations to help them meet that. And the same goes just what I said for productivity and performance. They don't have to rescind discipline that was put in place for misconduct if they didn't know a disability was involved. Employers aren't responsible for asking people if they need an accommodation even if they know that somebody has a disability. An employee shouldn't assume that an employer is going to ask. So the best thing to do if an employer is pulling somebody in and talking about performance and saying hey, you're not up to speed. You're not where we need you to be, that's perfectly fine. The important thing would be for the employer not to mention disability or not use the term, "reasonable accommodations." But they can easily say hey, this is where you need to be. How can we help you get there? And that's really the same thing. I have learning disability and caused me to have reading issues and I think that's probably part of the problem. And so, by having that meeting, whatever you want to call it, often gives the employee the opportunity to disclose A lot of times employees with disabilities, they may not really be aware that they're not performing the full responsibilities of the job. That's really good for everyone. Employees can ask for help and the employer can provide accommodations and get the person up to speed. An example that always comes to mind is a woman who called and she thought everything was going fine. She was astonished. So she did at that point and talked about how she had recurring recurring depression and she was finding it more and more depressing to stay on task. What do we need to do? Let's work together to bring your performance up.

>> Great, thanks, Melanie. And finally as mentioned earlier, we're going to talk about what employees can do when someone has difficulty handling workplace stressors If you can talk about things that tend to trigger these problems and suggestions you have for overcoming them.

>> That's a great question Really there's no set answer. Just like many other things with accommodations in the ADA, it's very individualized. One thing that two people with anxiety may have completely different triggers. As Melanie said, it's probably something that any job will have some level of trust. There's no magic answer for creating what some may refer to as a stress-free environment. If you can identify what specifically is affecting that person, it can put you in the direction of what types of accommodations may help Some common things that we have seen, probably one of the number one things we see is calls

42

regarding interacting with supervisors. So we'll get calls really from employers and employees about accommodation requests asking to change a supervisor. And the EEOC makes it pretty clear that under the ADA, there's really no obligation to change a supervisor as an accommodation. But what they do say is that there might be a need to look at altering supervisory methods So the next question we would probably get is, you know, what does it mean to alter supervisory method. The most common thing is probably changing methods of communication. So depending on the situation, if an employee is having difficulty with maybe face to face interactions with a supervisor or meeting one-on-one with them, looking at could we change primary communication to e-mail, and then, you know, if there is need for a face-to-face interaction or performance review, could we e-mail and set that up ahead of time? And that way the employee can feel prepared for that and have time to assess, are there going to be any other accommodations needed for that meeting? Sometimes what we see, there might be some difficulty with concentration or even memory when it comes to recalling what all is talked about in the meeting as well as going in and remembering everything that maybe you wanted to bring up to the supervisor in your conversation. So we'll often, we can see a support person come in with them. That can also serve as an extra set of ears or somebody that can maybe take notes for them if need be. We might see the option of recording the meeting, that way the employee can refer back to that as needed. Another thing that we commonly see is issues with the work environment. As Melanie mentioned with the microwave example, sometimes noise can be a trigger. If it's being located in a highly trafficked area of the office. Which in turn might lead to increased anxiety. It could be something where they could assess utilizing accommodation to try to block out some of that noise. Whether that's using a noise cancelling headset or white noise or something to try and help block some of that out Other times as Melanie mentioned in that example, looking at maybe relocating the employees, so putting them maybe in a more private office with possible in a cubicle setting or maybe they could be moved along the perimeter of the office versus right in the middle of everything. Just trying to figure out what's going to work best in that situation. Another thing that comes up with location and moving is seeing issues with change. We might get calls about a department that's moving to a different location in the office or changing to a different floor in the building. And sometimes there's consideration as far as if the employee could maybe stay in their current location and you know, communicate via phone or, you know, arranging meetings that they could meet in person, looking at and really assessing in order to perform the job they would need to be next to their team or not. For instance, here at JAN, Melanie and I are on the same team, but we're on different floors. So we set up times to get together or call each other or whatever it may be. It doesn't

43

really affect our day to day performance of the job. And lastly, the last main thing that we'll talk about today, of course there are a variety of other issues that we tend to see, but looking at office function, and what we mean by that is any sort of office meeting or big meetings or big trainings that the employee needs to attend as well as any social function, sometimes we might see accommodations for somebody maybe who experiences a lot of stress in crowds at big events like that. Sometimes that can be accommodated by making sure that social functions aren't mandatory for participation. Having the social activities be voluntary and, you know, allowing employees to come as they wish. As far as meetings go, if it's something that, you know, the employee could maybe teleconference in on, or, you know, today even, using like a video chat or something like that, if needed. And maybe that could allow them to still participate, but they could do it from their own office, if it's possible With trainings, a big thing that we see there is looking at what the purpose is. If it's something where it's more about acquiring the information to utilize. Is it something that they need to be there and be physically present? Or is it something that you know, supplying them with the different resources and documentation from that training could maybe serve the same purpose

>> Great. Thanks Sarah. Beth, do we have any questions for the team?

>> We do. This is related to someone who teaches classes. This individual was informed about her rights under the ADA but hasn't submitted the request for any type of accommodation And the employer says she needs some type of accommodation, but it seems like she's not aware that some of the things she's experiencing are true. So it's essential that she be able to teach these classes She doesn't pose any health or safety risks for herself or anyone else but her behavior is disruptive and it impacts students and other staff. So what can the employer do in this type of situation?

>> It isn't just when someone poses a direct threat. If they have objective evidence of that, that's a good time to get medical information. Sometimes a medical professional is not aware of what's going on with the individual because they haven't gone to see the doctor. They may not be aware themselves like what Beth had mentioned. She may not be aware of what she needs. She may not have understood her rights under the ADA. If the employer, it's almost a way of forcing an employee to go to the doctor. But it gives the employer really good information to help them make decisions, you know? If you're going to provide accommodations, what do we need to do? So it can be good all around Another thing to do also to talk to the employee and maybe a family member to come in with them, and just talk about, you know, we're concerned about you. We need to get some more information Maybe somebody else can come in and talk with us and

44

help you with this. So that would be something that they could do as well.

>>> Okay. >> Okay. I think a good thing to do in that regard is to

require medical information and say, you know, you can't require somebody to go the doctor or require them to take medication, but you can say if the behavior is too disruptive or you're not doing your job and we need you to, especially, some office functions might not be as vital as if you're working with students. You can say we need to get some information from your doctor in order to know what to do to help you and fix the situation. The employee herself may not be able to do that. She may not be able to tell the doctor honestly or truthfully. And not that she would be deceiving, but she may not be aware of it, so the doctor wouldn't have information to go on if the employer didn't provide that.

>> And we have one for you, Sarah. How do you avoid employee anarchy if one employee gets a private office because of noise and then someone else says they need the same thing.

>> There is a lot of grey area within that. >> But I understand that, you know, that can definitely

be hard especially if something is put in place like that to help with ADHD and all of the sudden you have ten other people lined up asking why they aren't getting a private office as well. With that, there's no set way to sort of handle that situation. You know, sometimes developing what you're going to tell people in terms of you know, just reassuring that they work to help all employees and you know, if there is something needed that they certainly can come to them and they would get the same help and everything. And really it does come back to being varied case by case. If something like that is implemented and then there's more people coming to you with doctor's notes, it would be the same process with gathering information and moving forward to see if it would be possible. It wouldn't be an automatic all of the sudden we have to provide this for anybody that brings a doctor's note. I know that figuring out what to say to other employees can definitely be a hard thing, because you can't breach that confidentiality, but at the same time with something like that that maybe is noticeable, it's hard not to really, you know, address it at all. You try to work with everybody equally and just tell employees that.

>> If there is no accommodation note, just get out of your office.

>> That's true. You definitely would be entitled to get that documentation from everyone. It's not up to them to be a free pass for everybody to come and want the same thing.

>> And you may only have so many offices available. >> It truly is case by case. >> Okay. Excellent point. And we have come to the end of

this binge-a-thon, believe it or not. We also want to thank ACS for providing the captioning and trying to keep up with the

45

speakers today. If you need additional information, please let us know. And if you want to discuss an accommodation, feel free to contact us. We'll put our contact information up for you.

And I've mentioned earlier an evaluation form will automatically pop up on your screen in another window as soon as we're finished. If it does not, we do appreciate your feedback, we hope you'll take a minute to complete the form. Again, thank you for attending and we hope you enjoyed the JAN binge-a-thon.

[ Meeting concluded at 4:01 PM EST ]

46