BUSN 311 APUS Job Restructuring as Reasonable Accommodation Response
I need of (2) substantive replies to (2) different post. BUSN 311 Topic: Reasonable accommodation W5: Reasonable Accommodation Case Study Title I of the Americans With Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12112(a), requires employers to provide reasonable accommodation to otherwise qualified persons with a disability to enable them to work. The federal government has a similar requirement under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794. What is a "reasonable" accommodation? This is a determination to be made on the facts by the employer on a case-by-case basis. Ultimately, the decision an employer makes may be reviewed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) (or an equivalent state agency) or a court if challenged by an applicant or employee. PROMPT: CASE STUDY Adele, a fully qualified specialized registered nurse, is deaf. She relies upon an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter to communicate with hearing individuals in the workplace. Adele applied for a job with Marigold Mercy Receiving and Trauma Center ("MMRTC"), a large medical center that, with all its hubs and subsidiaries, grossed $1.3 billion annually. Adele received a job offer, conditioned upon a health screening and clearance by MMRTC's occupational health department. She is in fact cleared, but she notified MMRTC that she needed an ASL interpreter as an accommodation for her hearing impairment. The annual salary, including benefits, for her position was approximately $75,000. Upon investigation, MMRTC calculated that the annual cost to MMRTC for the ASL interpreter accommodation would be $120,000; there was the need for a full-time interpreter for Adele, plus several situations where two ASL interpreters would be required. In considering Adele's request for accommodation, the department's hiring supervisor wrote in an email that the department's annual HR budget allocation of $3 million could not absorb the "excessive cost of the additional personnel" of ASL qualified interpreters "for this one nurse." MMRTC determined the additional salary and personnel would be an "undue hardship," making the accommodation unreasonable. Therefore, MMRTC did not hire Adele. Did MMRTC violate ADA? DISCUSS: Was MMRTC within its rights to refuse the accommodation and thus not hire Adele? In considering this case, you should review: 1) what is considered a "reasonable" accommodation under ADA; (2) sample accommodations listed by ADA (42 U.S.C. § 12111(9) (2018)) and the EEOC (www.eeoc.gov); and (3) the definition and standard for "undue hardship" (42 U.S.C. § 12111(10)(a) (2018)). Please support your thoughts and conclusion with reasoned analysis. Rubrics Peer replies to further the conversation Student replied to at least two (2) classmates’ posts and each reply includes at least three (3) to four (4) sentences relating the classmate’s post to at least one (1) question/point of the Discussion Prompt. WEEK 5: THE FOLLOWING IS REQUIRED READING FOR THE COURSE. THESE MATERIALS WILL ASSIST YOUR RESEARCH FOR DISCUSSIONS, EXAMS/QUIZZES, AND PAPERS. Bucaro, F. (2017, April 6). What would you do? Corporate Compliance Insights. https://www.corporatecomplianceinsights.com/what-would-you-do/ Read the following 3 blogs of David Gebler together, each 1 page. They are listed here in sequence]: Gebler, D. (2010, April 14). Banana logic. [Blog] Business Ethics, Culture and Performance. Retrieved from https://managementhelp.org/blogs/business-ethics/2010/04/14/banana-logic/ Gebler, D. (2010, April 19). Toyota ethics: Questions to get answers. [Blog] Business Ethics, Culture and Performance. Retrieved from https://managementhelp.org/blogs/business-ethics/2010/04/19/toyota-ethics-questions-to-get-to-answers/ Gebler, D. (2010, April 28). Goldman Sachs - Trust, corporate culture and societal expectations. [Blog] Business Ethics, Culture and Performance. Retrieved from https://managementhelp.org/blogs/business-ethics/2010/04/28/goldman-sachs-trust-corporate-culture-and-societal-expectations/ Sandel, M. (2017). Putting a price tag on life. (Harvard Lecture). [Video File]. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD_zU-BHaOc (23:55 min., transcript provided). Friedman, M. (1970, September 13). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved from http://umich.edu/~thecore/doc/Friedman.pdf Barlas, R. (2016). Friedman's theory of social responsibility for business in the 21st century. J. of Integrated Stud., 8(1), n.p. Available at: http://jis.athabascau.ca/index.php/jis/article/view/166/338 Overview. (n.d.) EEOC. Retrieved from http://www1.eeoc.gov/eeoc/index.cfm Prohibited employment policies/practices. (n.d.) EEOC. Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/index.cfm Summary of the major laws of the U.S. Department of Labor. (n.d.) DOL. Retrieved from https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/majorlaws Laws enforced by EEOC. (n.d.) EEOC. Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/index.cfm Workplace laws not enforced by the EEOC. (n.d.) EEOC. Retrieved from http://www1.eeoc.gov/laws/other.cfm Best practices for employers and human resources/EEO professionals. (n.d.) EEOC. Retrieved from https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/initiatives/e-race/bestpractices-employers.cfm Enforcement guidance: Reasonable accommodation and undue hardship under the Americans with Disabilities act. (n.d.) EEOC. Retrieved from https://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/accommodation.html Northwest ADA Center. (2020, April). Reasonable accommodations in the workplace. ADA National Network. Retrieved from https://adata.org/factsheet/reasonable-accommodations-workplace Forum Post 1: Hi Class, The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was introduced and signed into law on July 26, 1990 and is regulated by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (Introduction to ADA, 2020). Title I of the ADA requires an employer to provide “reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities who are employees or applicants for employment” (Enforcement Guidance, 2002). So what is a reasonable accommodation? A reasonable accommodation is any change to the hiring process, job, functions of the job, and work environment that would provide for a qualified individual with a disability to have equal employment opportunities (Reasonable Accommodations, 2020). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) investigates any claims of employment discrimination based on termination or a denied hiring based on an individual’s disabilities alone. When the EEOC investigates an ADA discrimination claim the denied reasonable accommodation is analyzed on a case by case basis, as each situation is different. If a company outright denies a reasonable accommodation, then the EEOC will impose fines and ensure the employer rectifies the discrimination. However, if the reasonable request is denied because implementing the change would cause undue hardship, then the employer would be justified in their actions. An undue hardship is based on several factors such as, “the nature and cost of the accommodation needed, [and] the overall financial resources of the facility making the reasonable accommodation” (Enforcement Guidance, 2002). In short, if the accommodations requested to employ a disabled individual causes a significant financial strain on the company than it would classify as an undue hardship, and therefore result in the employer being justified to refuse employment to a disabled employee or applicant. When using this knowledge we can adequately examine Marigold Mercy Receiving and Trauma Center’s (MMRTC) decision to not hire Adele. MMRTC completed all the initial steps of interviewing Adele despite her disabilities. If MMRTC did not even give Adele a chance based on the challenges her disabilities would cause, then it would have been a direct violation of the ADA. However, her denied employment was decided by accessing the requested accommodations to provide Adele the opportunity of employment. She required an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter to be hired on full-time to communicate with hearing individuals in the workplace, and in some situations she would need two ASL interpreters. The cost of the ASL interpreters was calculated to be $120,000, which is almost twice her salary. This required accommodation for Adele’s hire was determined to be an undue hardship on the company due to the financial cost. I agree with this decision. It would be ideal for Adele to be hired on as a Nurse, however the cost is too great for the company. There would be more of a reasonable accommodation argument if there were additional nurses that could benefit from the ASL interpreters. Since the interpreter hiring would be just for Adele it would be a massive annual loss for the company each year. References: Enforcement Guidance on Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship under the ADA. (2002, October 17). Retrieved December 02, 2020, from https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/enforcement-guidance-reasonable-accommodation-and-undue-hardship-under-ada Introduction to the ADA. (n.d.). Retrieved December 02, 2020, from https://www.ada.gov/ada_intro.htm Reasonable Accommodations in the Workplace. (2020, December 01). Retrieved December 02, 2020, from https://adata.org/factsheet/reasonable-accommodations-workplace Forum Post 2: Hello professor and class, In my opinion, MMRTC did not violate ADA, a reasonable accommodation is a modification or adjustment to a job, the work environment, or the way things are usually done during the hiring process. These modifications enable an individual with a disability to have an equal opportunity not only to get a job but successfully perform their job tasks to the same extent as people without disabilities. In this case, MMRTC was trying to offer Adele a job without taking into consideration paying the interpreter an annual salary. The company decided not to hire Adele simply because the expense to cover the cost of hiring an interpreter exceeds their funding. This is totally understandable and reasonable because MMRTC is not financially capable of hiring Adele at this point, which is an example of undue hardship. Undue hardship means significant difficulty or expense and focuses on the resources and circumstances of the particular employer in relation to the cost or difficulty of providing a specific accommodation. Also, looking at the factors to be considered in determining undue hardship under 42 U.S.C $ 12111, the HR department of MMRTC, who is responsible for hiring Adele, and is also the covered entity, in this case, is not able to provide the financial resource for hiring the interpreter. References: Accommodations, office of disability employment policy, retrieved from: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/odep/program-areas/em... Enforcement guidance on reasonable accommodation and undue hardship under the ADA, retrieved from: https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/enforcement-gui...