Accommodations Scenarios for Supervisors
Supervisors may have questions about their responsibilities regarding employees with a disability.
An employee discloses a disability and/or requests a reasonable accommodation
In this case, it is recommended that the supervisor:
- Inform the employee that there is a process by which reasonable accommodations are determined; and
- State that NC State has an ADA coordinator responsible for facilitating the interactive accommodations process.
Not all accommodation requests need to be processed as disability-based accommodations. If an employee is requesting a modification to the work environment that would be provided regardless of disability status, then the supervisor should make the modification without the interactive process. For example, one employee (with no disclosed disabilities) requests and is provided a reduced-glare computer monitor because she is having difficulty reading her screen. If another employee requests a reduced-glare monitor, and this employee says the monitor is needed due to his vision impairment, the monitor should be provided without going through the interactive process. In other words, the supervisor should not treat the second employee differently (requiring the interactive process) just because he disclosed a disability. On the other hand, if the monitor had not been provided to the first employee because it was too expensive, then it would be appropriate to engage in the interactive process to determine what, if any, reasonable accommodations are available for the second employee’s vision impairment.
At any point, the supervisor is welcome to contact the ADA coordinator with questions.
A supervisor suspects that an employee may benefit from disability-based accommodations
If a supervisor suspects that an employee may benefit from disability-based accommodations, but for one reason or another, the employee has not initiated the accommodations process, it is important for the supervisor not to assume that the employee has a disability (or regard the employee as having a disability) and/or treat the employee as such, but instead, to seek assistance from the ADA coordinator and Human Resources.
At any point, the supervisor is welcome to contact the ADA coordinator with questions.
An employee discloses a medical condition and/or provides a note from a physician (with or without listed workplace restrictions)
If it is unclear what an employee is requesting when disclosing a medical condition or providing a supervisor with a doctor’s note (and in some cases, the employee may not be sure of what they are entitled to, or asking for, when providing the information), a supervisor should acknowledge receipt of the information and provide the employee with options. It is important that the supervisor not assume that an employee has a disability because a medical condition has been disclosed. Disability-related options should be provided in case the employee is eligible under the ADA.
It is recommended that supervisors respond with language similar to, “Thank you for this information. I will contact Human Resources to assist me with processing this information. Although I am not making any assumptions, it is possible that you have rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. You are welcome to contact the ADA coordinator if you believe it would benefit you to do so.”
Supervisors may contact Leave Administration, Benefits and/or Employee Relations. At any point, the supervisor is welcome to contact the ADA coordinator with questions.