Job Accommodations Can Allow You to Keep Working
Do you have a health condition that could affect your work?
Many workers age 50+ have chronic conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis, or back pain. Changes in vision or hearing are common. Some workers suddenly discover a heart condition or diabetes. Others have had a disabling condition for a longer time. Aging can make a disability worse or harder to work with.
Continuing to work is important to many workers with health conditions or disabilities. They want their work to remain a big part of their lives. Job accommodations can help them stay on the job.
A job accommodation is something that lets you do your job when you have a health condition or a disability. You change how you do your work or make a change in your work area. Many, but not all, such changes involve using an assistive device. This is a piece of equipment to help you offset your health condition so you can work. For instance:
| Health condition/disability | Work situation | Job accommodation |
| Eye disorder | Desktop publishing worker is finding it harder to read off the computer screen. | Get a glare guard for the computer monitor and use anti-glare paper. |
| Migraine headaches | Utility worker has started getting severe headaches from wearing heavy safety glasses. | Replace heavy glasses with a visor weighing much less. |
| Diabetes | Manufacturing plant production worker is having trouble completing an 8-hour shift. | Install an anti-fatigue mat at workstation; arrange time for two breaks during shift by coming in 15 minutes earlier and staying 15 minutes later. |
| Arthritis | Social worker with arthritis in her hands is having trouble reading case reports, doing paperwork, and taking notes. | Get a page turner, bookholder, writing aids, and the option to dictate reports to her clerical staff. |
If you have a health condition, learn about job accommodations and your job rights. You'll have a better chance to maintain your skills to keep your job, get hired at a new job, or get help to start your own small business.
Many employers want to provide job accommodations for their workers who need them. Employers report that more than 80 percent of the accommodations they make for their workers are effective. On average, for every dollar spent to make an accommodation, a company gets nearly $35 in benefits.
Employers most often report these benefits of making job accommodations for workers with health or disabling conditions:
- They can keep or hire a qualified employee.
- They avoid the cost of training someone new.
- They save on worker's compensation or other insurance.
- Productivity goes up.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
If your health condition meets the definition of disability in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), your employer must provide a reasonable job accommodation to you.
The ADA forbids discrimination in all employment practices. These include:
- Recruiting
- Advertising
- Hiring
- Job promotion
- Wages & fringe benefits
- Training
- Firing or layoffs
The ADA covers private employers with 15 or more employees. Other covered employers are state and local governments, employment agencies, and labor unions.
The ADA covers you if you are qualified for the job you have, or the job you apply for, and you have a disability. The law is very specific in defining "qualified" and "disability." It's best to check with the Job Accommodations Network (JAN) or another expert if you are not sure that you meet one of these definitions.
Basically, a qualified person:
- meets the skill, education, and experience requirements of the job, and
- can perform the "essential functions" of the job, with or without reasonable job accommodation.
Reasonable accommodation is any change to the job or to the work environment that allows a person with a disability to apply for or do a job.
Under the ADA law, a disability is a physical or mental impairment that limits one or more major life activities to a large extent. Seeing, walking, doing manual tasks, and working are examples of life activities.
Job Accommodations Network (JAN)
The U.S. Department of Labor created JAN to help both workers and employers. JAN is a free consulting service. It provides personalized, case-by-case information about job accommodations and about the ADA.
Use this service as your first step for understanding or using a job accommodation. JAN consultants can also explain the ADA.
Phone to get answers to your questions. A real person answers the phone! Call 1-800-526-7234 (for both voice and TTY). You can email questions from its Web site at www.jan.wvu.edu.
If you prefer to start with the JAN Web site, you will find:
- Fact sheets about many health and disabling conditions, with suggestions of accommodations that workers with these conditions can use to do their work
- A very easy-to-use database called SOAR (Searchable Online Accommodation Resource), with specific ideas about accommodations for many conditions. It suggests products to buy and where to buy them.
- A form letter to help you request a job accommodation from your employer
- Employment tips
- Information on your rights and how to ensure them
- Resources for your employer, including tax incentives for making job accommodations
- The Small Business and Self-Employment Service (SBSES). It provides information, counseling, and referrals to people with disabilities who want to explore owning their own small business.
- Links to other work resources for people with health or disabling conditions. Join an online discussion group or learn more about telecommuting, transportation, medical, and legal topics.
Additional Resources
Job Accommodation
Network
A free consulting service that provides information about job
accommodations, the ADA, and the employability of people with
health conditions and disabilities.
SOAR (Searchable
Online Accommodation Resource)
Go directly here to check out many accommodation ideas for every
kind of health condition.
Small Business
and Self-Employment Service
Owning your own business might be the best solution when your
health changes or you have a disability.
