Legal Question in Disability Law in Washington
Scheduling for an employee with a disability
An employee at work has MS. Our job requires that all employees must work Saturdays. The employee has brought in a note stating she can only work 5 days in a row, each day not to exceed 8 hours and she must have 2 consecutive days off. Saturdays are alternated throughout the employees and each Saturday has 4 employees working since they are light workload days. The employee was given the option that she can work Tues - Sat and have Sun- Mon off. When given this options she stated it was unsuitable because Saturdays were too stressful. To alleviate the stress we agreed to have 5 persons work on her Saturday, this still did not satisfy her. Are we required to take her from the Saturday schedule, which will certainly cause many complaints from the other employees re the fairness of it?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Scheduling for an employee with a disability
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires reasonable accommodation. It does not require the accommodation the employee prefers, necessarily, but only requires an employer to provide an accommodation. Without a union contract or valid seniority system, the dissatisfaction of the other employees probably is not enough to establish "undue hardship" so as to excuse accommodation. Nonetheless, from your brief description, it appears the Tuesday through Saturday schedule should be an adequate accommodation. That schedule should be passed by the employee's physician for approval. Once the physician approves, the employee will have a hard time claiming it is not an adequate accommodation. These comments are meant as general statements of the law, and you should not rely upon them as guidance for your specific situation. Consult an attorney for specific legal advice.
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