The nuances of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) can be difficult to grasp and one of the most confusing areas for HR professionals and employers includes granting ADA leave. Unfortunately, employers and HR professionals sometimes find out the hard way that refusing to allow an employee to take additional leave as part of their ADA accommodation can be a big mistake. It can be easy to believe that the Family and Medical Leave Act or your own company’s leave policies will cover any time-off needs for your employees. In reality, if you have an employee with an ADA covered disability and they are requesting leave, you should consider it an accommodation under ADA. Here are some things for HR professionals to consider when it comes to granting ADA leave.
When an employee with a disability requests leave, employers and HR professionals should first consider whether or not the employee will be able to perform their job effectively when they return from leave. Compare the amount of time off requested to how confident the employee’s doctor is that they will be able to perform all their job functions when they return. The goal of ADA leave is to help the employee get back into a condition where they can perform safely and healthily. If an employee keeps requesting extensions, it is likely that leave isn’t an effective accommodation for that person.
Simply put, your company’s leave policies don’t have much pull when it comes to granting ADA leave. Most of the time, if an employee with a disability requests leave beyond what your policy offers, you will have to grant it. However, your own policy can come into play if the requested leave affects how much time off a court deems reasonable to be out of work for your specific organization. In order for HR professionals and employers to determine if an employee’s ADA leave request is unreasonable, take a look at how the rest of your business will be affected. For example, if you have to hire temporary workers to make up for this employee or bog down your other employees with extra work that could slow their productivity down, the request might be unreasonable.
In order to make sure that you are making a well-informed decision about an employee’s ADA leave request, HR professionals and employers should be specific when requesting information. Ask the employee’s doctor for an estimate on when they think the employee will be able to return to work. Get specific with your employees as well. Tell them exactly what they need to do in order to get your approval, such as turning in forms by a specific due date and how soon they need to contact if you they have trouble obtaining the required information. If you grant ADA leave, keep communicating with the employee and establish a date for their return to work.
By keeping these things in mind and understanding rules regarding ADA leave, employers and HR professionals can keep themselves out of hot water and accommodate their employee’s needs.