Special Report - Complimentary Download
Learning the Intricacies of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and ‘Leave as a Reasonable Accommodation’ from Law Firm Jackson Lewis
The ADA has thrown many curveballs at employers, among them being the requirement to grant “leave as a reasonable accommodation”. Under this unexpected side effect of the ADA, there are many leave cases in which employees who have fully exhausted their leave may be eligible for additional job-protected leave under the ADA. The intricacies of when and how to grant leave as a reasonable accommodation are difficult to navigate, but Jackson Lewis attorneys Frank Alvarez and Michael Soltis recently released part one of a two part series that sheds light upon this topic.
The report, Americans with Disabilities Act: Excusing Absences as a Reasonable Accommodation (Part 1), is available for download by clicking here or going to Disability, Leave & Health Management Blog at www.disabilityleavelaw.com. In it, Alvarez and Soltis examine leave as a reasonable accommodation, providing insight into court decisions and offering valuable advice about how employers can tackle this difficult issue. Part 1 focuses on cases involving longer “blocks” of leave, while Part 2 will look at intermittent leaves.
Some highlights of the report are:
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“Inflexible leave policies” that do not consider leave to be a reasonable accommodation can expose employers to litigation. |
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Employers are not required to provide leave as an accommodation for an “indefinite duration”. |
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The burden of proving that an accommodation is reasonable or is under “special circumstances” is placed on the employee. |
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“The inability to track accurately the amount of leave provided under FMLA or company policies, such as short-term disability or workers’ compensation benefit programs, also may hamper an effective defense of ADA claims.” |
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Providing leave under the ADA should be the last step, and for employees who “first exhausted all leave entitlements under state and federal leave laws, such as the FMLA.” |
The full report can be downloaded by clicking here. Should you have any questions about the report or how Presagia’s Leave and Accommodation software solutions address these issues, please contact us.
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