Reasonable accommodation

[Anonymous]

My husband negotiated WFH based on pain after spine surgery and neck fusions that is exacerbated by commuting by foot and on Metro.

[Anonymous]

Short answer is don't count on it as a way to just dodge going back into the office because you take a medication you took when you worked in the office before. Something has to keep you from being able to go back to the office, apart from your preference not to. You'll need to epxlain more clearly what is keeping you from working in an office which never did before. Once you do that, the employer will have to determine if your requested accommodation is reasonable, which is a legal term of art.

From your post, it sounds like you just don't want to go back to the office, not that you cannot. That won't fly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband negotiated WFH based on pain after spine surgery and neck fusions that is exacerbated by commuting by foot and on Metro.

The above meet the "reasonable" test!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there something about the disability that is incompatible with going to the office 5d/wk vs 1d/wk? Your doctor would have to agree that increasing to 5 days is not feasible due to your condition.

OP- Waking up earlier and driving an hour regularly will result in a higher chance of triggering my condition and thereby increasing the risk of a car accident.

Driving to Metro would take me even longer to arrive.

[Anonymous]

I was only in the office for 2 days a week for the decade before COVID. Since 2020, I’ve been 100% remote. Since 2022, I’ve had both hips replaced. And am due for a knee replacement once I completely recover. And have severe SI joint arthritis, that right now has no solution except pain killers. Obviously, I have an underlying condition causing my joints to fail. My ortho and pain management specialists don’t want me communing unnecessarily— especially since they gave up our lease and my 45 minute each way pre-COVID commute is now 1.5 hours each way to the tiny outstation to which I am officially assigned that can actually hold us each maybe one day a week hoteling.

I’m an actual lawyer, so I am certainly putting in for an ADA accommodation if needed. They need to show that I am unable to do the essential functions of my job with the requested accommodation or find another solution that accommodates it. I’ve gone into my office once since 3/2020– to pack it up when they gave the lease away and renew my piv card. I have metrics to meet and am meeting them at a higher level than I did in 2020. Exactly zero of my job functions have changed since COVID started. I didn’t need to be going in 2 days a week then, and our union was in talks to make it one core day a week. I certainly don’t need to go in 5.

Let them come for my telework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there something about the disability that is incompatible with going to the office 5d/wk vs 1d/wk? Your doctor would have to agree that increasing to 5 days is not feasible due to your condition.

OP- Waking up earlier and driving an hour regularly will result in a higher chance of triggering my condition and thereby increasing the risk of a car accident.

Driving to Metro would take me even longer to arrive.

Wouldn’t they just suggest you find another way (besides driving) to get to work? If you used driving for an hour as a potential trigger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there something about the disability that is incompatible with going to the office 5d/wk vs 1d/wk? Your doctor would have to agree that increasing to 5 days is not feasible due to your condition.

OP- Waking up earlier and driving an hour regularly will result in a higher chance of triggering my condition and thereby increasing the risk of a car accident.

Driving to Metro would take me even longer to arrive.

Wouldn’t they just suggest you find another way (besides driving) to get to work? If you used driving for an hour as a potential trigger.

Such as?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't matter what any DCUMers think. It matters what your health care team says you need, and whether your organization agrees they can accommodate it. You'll need to have your need certified and this is usually done through your Benefits/Leaves team (even though it's not a leave), but they don't generally share your medical condition with your manager or the leadership team, only what your need is. So you retain some confidentiality, as that seems to be important to you.

+1 for this. Look at the Department of Labor Job Accommodation Network to see if your disability is associated with a recommended accommodation for telework.

Edited to add that looking at JAN is just a way to get a sense of things that are common. However, if you're disability isn't related to telework, you may have a harder time getting a medical professional to sign off. Also, sometimes you will need to try other accommodations first. For example, for ADHD, they may ask that you try a quiet work space before telework.

This.

Fwiw, people with adhd struggle to work from home successfully imho. Far too many distractions.

We’ve moved people from cubicles to private offices or to quiet areas rather than jumping ti WFH.

It all comes down to your job, your supervisor, the GCO/HR team making a decision, and the paperwork from your doctor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think reasonable accommodation means they have to do something in the workplace. I don’t think work from home is a “reasonable accommodation.”

That’s what you think.

I have an accommodation that allows me to work from home.

[Anonymous]

Our reasonable accommodations manual (check your agency’s) actually LISTS telework as an example of an accommodation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was only in the office for 2 days a week for the decade before COVID. Since 2020, I’ve been 100% remote. Since 2022, I’ve had both hips replaced. And am due for a knee replacement once I completely recover. And have severe SI joint arthritis, that right now has no solution except pain killers. Obviously, I have an underlying condition causing my joints to fail. My ortho and pain management specialists don’t want me communing unnecessarily— especially since they gave up our lease and my 45 minute each way pre-COVID commute is now 1.5 hours each way to the tiny outstation to which I am officially assigned that can actually hold us each maybe one day a week hoteling.

I’m an actual lawyer, so I am certainly putting in for an ADA accommodation if needed. They need to show that I am unable to do the essential functions of my job with the requested accommodation or find another solution that accommodates it. I’ve gone into my office once since 3/2020– to pack it up when they gave the lease away and renew my piv card. I have metrics to meet and am meeting them at a higher level than I did in 2020. Exactly zero of my job functions have changed since COVID started. I didn’t need to be going in 2 days a week then, and our union was in talks to make it one core day a week. I certainly don’t need to go in 5.

Let them come for my telework.

Are you OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there something about the disability that is incompatible with going to the office 5d/wk vs 1d/wk? Your doctor would have to agree that increasing to 5 days is not feasible due to your condition.

OP- Waking up earlier and driving an hour regularly will result in a higher chance of triggering my condition and thereby increasing the risk of a car accident.

Driving to Metro would take me even longer to arrive.

I don’t think a 90 min commute is a medical accommodation. Sounds like you need a job closer to your home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there something about the disability that is incompatible with going to the office 5d/wk vs 1d/wk? Your doctor would have to agree that increasing to 5 days is not feasible due to your condition.

OP- Waking up earlier and driving an hour regularly will result in a higher chance of triggering my condition and thereby increasing the risk of a car accident.

Driving to Metro would take me even longer to arrive.

Your commute is not a job duty, so your employer doesn’t have to accommodate it. Unless your employer told you that you must live an hour away for some reason.

But if I were your HR department, I would offer you a flexible start time to accommodate a metro commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Your commute is not a job duty, so your employer doesn’t have to accommodate it. Unless your employer told you that you must live an hour away for some reason.

"there are some accommodations that employers must consider related to commuting problems...

"According to informal guidance from the ADA Policy Division of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, while employers do not have to actually transport an employee with a disability to and from work (unless the employer provides employee transportation to and from work as a perk of employment), employers may have to provide other accommodations such as changing an employee’s schedule so he can access available transportation, reassigning an employee to a location closer to his home when the length of the commute is the problem, or allowing an employee to telecommute."


source: https://askjan.org/publications/consultants-corner/vol08iss01.cfm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was only in the office for 2 days a week for the decade before COVID. Since 2020, I’ve been 100% remote. Since 2022, I’ve had both hips replaced. And am due for a knee replacement once I completely recover. And have severe SI joint arthritis, that right now has no solution except pain killers. Obviously, I have an underlying condition causing my joints to fail. My ortho and pain management specialists don’t want me communing unnecessarily— especially since they gave up our lease and my 45 minute each way pre-COVID commute is now 1.5 hours each way to the tiny outstation to which I am officially assigned that can actually hold us each maybe one day a week hoteling.

I’m an actual lawyer, so I am certainly putting in for an ADA accommodation if needed. They need to show that I am unable to do the essential functions of my job with the requested accommodation or find another solution that accommodates it. I’ve gone into my office once since 3/2020– to pack it up when they gave the lease away and renew my piv card. I have metrics to meet and am meeting them at a higher level than I did in 2020. Exactly zero of my job functions have changed since COVID started. I didn’t need to be going in 2 days a week then, and our union was in talks to make it one core day a week. I certainly don’t need to go in 5.

Let them come for my telework.

Are you OP?

Nope