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Disability Accommodation
To provide a corporate framework which supports departmental managers, supervisors and employees in reintegrating employees with disabilities into the organization.
On this page:
What is Accommodation?
Duty to Accommodate is a legal requirement as identified in the Human Rights Act:
"Every person has a responsibility to make reasonable provisions in connection with employment, accommodations, and services for the special needs of others where those special needs arise from physical disability, but this duty does not exist where making the provisions would result in undue hardship."
For the purposes of the above "undue hardship" shall be determined by balancing the advantages and disadvantages of the provisions by reference to factors such as:
- Safety
- Disruption to the public
- Effect on contractual obligations
- Financial cost
- Business efficiency
And, each case will have to be individually considered since the duty to accommodate will require flexibility, innovation, imagination and cooperation.
Why do we do it?
- Provide equal access to work for people who would otherwise encounter serious barriers to entry, re-entry, or ongoing participation in the labour market.
- Good human resource management practice.
- Can help to maintain productivity and reduce lost time.
- Maximizes use of internal resources.
- Improves labour relations.
- Enhances worker morale.
- May help with prevention of injury and re-injury.
Who is involved in accommodation?
- Worker
- Supervisor
- Departmental HR advisor
- Manager of Reintegration, Staff Development Branch
- Pay and benefits administrator, Departmental and Public Service Commission
- Insurer (Clarica, WCB, other)
- Union representative
- Health care professional (doctor, psychologist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, other)
- Others as required
GY Policy
Current
- Policies, and other documents that relate to accommodation:
- Policy 3.59, Reintegration of Disabled Workers
- Application Guidelines #29 Accommodating Disabilities and Undue Hardship
- Injury on Duty leave 26.02 PSAC agreement.
Future
- Working group made up of PSC and Departmental representatives was formed last year to improve on current policy and practice.
- New policy and procedure guidelines have been developed and are now in the review stage prior to going through the approval process. It is anticipated that the new policy and procedures will be adopted by March 31, 2002.
Key Principle of New Policy
"This policy reflects the shared responsibility of departments and the Public Service Commission in partnering to meet the accommodation needs of employees with disabilities, as well as the role of the Public Service Commission in coordinating the services outlined herein."
The Process
- Identify need for accommodating a work task
- Discuss accommodation request and identify specific work tasks
- Identify essential and marginal job tasks
- Activities or steps required to accomplish each task
- Frequency of tasks and when each task is performed
- Work station description, including type of equipment or tools used
- Barriers to task performance
- Develop a worker profile of functional abilities
- Identify performance barriers that restrict task performance
- Employer and worker discuss possible accommodations
- Utilize a job accommodation team
- Plan, implement, train, supervise, follow up.
Accommodations Options
- The primary focus of workplace accommodation efforts should be on enabling employees to perform the essential duties of their substantive position. Just as no two people experience disability in the same way, no one accommodation solution can be developed to suit all employees with disabilities. Departments are encouraged to use innovative thinking in developing an accommodation plan that balances the needs of employees with disabilities with the continued efficiency of the work unit.
- Consider accommodation options in the following order:
- Changes to the physical work environment or equipment and/ or modifying how tasks are performed to enable the employee to remain in his/her substantive position.
- Modifying the employee's job duties in order for the employee to perform the essential tasks of his/her substantive position in a manner consistent with his/her individual capabilities.
- Exploring other job assignments within the employee's home department in which he/she would be capable of performing all or most of the tasks of the position, with or without modifications.
- Exploring job assignments in other departments in which the employee would be capable of performing all or most of the tasks of the position, with or without modifications.
Examples and Categories
- Rebundling, modification of duties
- Job reassignment, removal or substitution of duties between employees
- Building modification such as alterations to the workplace for wheelchair accessibility
- Tolerance of some non-culpable absenteeism and authorized time off to accommodate employee's limitations or for medical treatment
- Use of temporary replacements for frequent or extended periods of absence
- Changes to equipment or physical set up
- Adaptive technologies or equipment such as a speech synthesizer or on screen text enlarger for a visually impaired employee
- Work schedule changes, hours of work, shift changes
- Gradual return to work and part-time work
- Involves looking at any existing job or set of tasks available within the employer's work force to determine if it could be sufficiently modified (not just the employee's former job)
Other Notes and Considerations
- Employees with short term disabilities will probably be paid their wage rate at the time of becoming disabled.
- Employees with long term disabilities will probably be assigned the pay rate that attaches to the position.
- Training may be required in order to permit a disabled employee to take on duties he/she is capable of performing.
- No requirement to place disabled workers into positions for which they are not qualified and which would require extensive training.
- No obligation to consider displacing other employees from occupied positions to accommodate a disabled worker.
- Employer may be expected to make a considerable financial investment in accommodation on a case by case basis.
- Due consideration must be given to any inherent risk to safety of employee, co-workers, or to the public.
Consider transitional work options such as:
- Modification of work tasks in original job
- Offer a gradual return to work, with increased time involvement as strength and endurance increases
- Combine less demanding tasks of original job with other temporarily assigned job tasks
- Assignment to different job within same department
- Create temporary non-traditional job assignment (filing, inventory, inspection, and training)
- Important characteristics of transitional work plans:
- Therapeutic supervision to assist worker back to full duties of original job
- Established time parameters for duration of the program
- Meaningful and productive work
- Support of management and labour
A final few words
- The whole process of accommodation is characterized and supported by creating and maintaining relationships.
- It is important that employees stay healthy
- That we maintain connectedness with employees who have been sick or injured
- Focus on health and productivity - what they can do!
- Maintain occupational bond - you are important!
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