Disability Qualification

Craig B

I have an employee who works on the second floor of an office complex my company leases. This complex does not have elevators to get to the second floor. The employee has provided me with a doctors note that states she is unable to climb stairs indefinatly due to a degenertive knee disorder. What is the best process to find out if her disorder qualifies under the ADA? Is there any standard paper work involved similar to that of DOL FMLA guidlines? Do I have to move her in an office downstairs? At this time we do not lease any offices on the ground floor.

Please help,
Craig

skyrocket

This sounds like a disability protected by ADA since it affects a major life function (walking). You have a duty to evaluate "reasonable accommodation". That would include the ability to move the employee to a downstairs office. You need not provide "reasonable accommodation" if the accommodation would present an "undue hardship"... See the following websites for more information

Enforcement Guidance:
Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship Under the Americans with Disabilities Act
[url]http://www.eeoc.gov/docs/accommodation.html[/url]


Small Employers And Reasonable Accommodation
[url]http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/accommodation.html[/url]