October is National Disability Awareness Month, and this would be a great time for organizations to request employees to self-identify if they have a disability. This information helps organizations to be more inclusive as they have a better understanding of their employees who have a disability and needs to request a reasonable accommodation to perform their job duties successfully.
An employer is required under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), to make a reasonable accommodation for an applicant or employee with a disability if it would not impose an “undue hardship” to the organization. Reasonable accommodations are adjustments or modifications provided by an employer to enable people with disabilities to have employment opportunities like accessible restrooms, ergonomic workstations or providing screen reader software, for example.
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Organizations can track an employee’s accommodation request as part of the Accommodation component. Information about an employee’s need for an accommodation and their limitations/restrictions should be treated and retained as confidential information and separate from Personal Data. The Disability Services Administrator can manage the employee’s request as to the nature of the request, whether the request is reasonable or presents a hardship to the organization, and if there is a disability associated with the accommodation request.
The Accommodation Option pages allows the Disability Services Administrator to manage what the accommodation is, like an ergonomic keyboard needed for carpal tunnel, and any cost associated to the accommodation.
For applicants with a disability who are requesting special accommodations, like a sign language interpreter needed for the interview process, the applicant can request an accommodation that is managed in the Accommodation Request page. The recruiter can track the type of accommodation and the status of the request.
PeopleSoft HCM can help organizations in managing special accommodation requests for employees and applicants to make the workplace more accessible to people with disabilities.