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Post by happytoalmostbedone on Jul 16, 2014 9:47:43 GMT -5
Does anyone know SSA’s process with respect to reasonable accommodation requests? If I get an offer, which I understand is a big “if”, I will need to ask for accommodations, and I am just wondering if anyone has any knowledge or experience in this arena with SSA.
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Post by arkstfan on Jul 16, 2014 10:10:52 GMT -5
One member of my class required a wheelchair and had extremely limited use of his hands. I've known of ALJ's who required a walker and one who required oxygen and was very limited in how far he could walk. The latter two stayed with agency until they were just completely unable to continue working.
Government agencies tend to be much better than the private sector in this regard.
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Post by saaao on Jul 16, 2014 10:19:05 GMT -5
I have no personal experience in requesting an accommodation, but when I worked in a hearing office there was a Judge who was legally blind and was provided with a special computer monitor and was also provided with an assistant to act as a "reader" (I don't know precisely what that entailed). From what I saw in the hearing office I worked in, accommodation request from any employee were approved as long as they were not completely unreasonable. However it has been years since I worked in a hearing office and I have read a story on this board about an ALJ being denied accommodation, despite being an amputee. I don't know the specifics of that issue so I can't comment, but it is possible that the culture has changed since I left. However they used to bend over backwards to make accommodations, and given that it is government I can't imagine it has really changed that much.
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Post by boredlilah on Jul 16, 2014 12:41:17 GMT -5
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Post by onepingonly on Jul 16, 2014 21:40:17 GMT -5
Federal agencies must comply with the Rehab Act, which gives qualified employees with disabilities most of the same rights as under the ADA. In short, agencies must grant reasonable accommodations under many circumstances unless they can show it would cause an undue hardship. In my experience, employees have better success getting reasonable accommodations in most agencies than in the private sector. Check out the eeoc website, federal sector, for more info.
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Post by happytoalmostbedone on Jul 17, 2014 19:02:51 GMT -5
Thanks for all the encouraging information. I appreciate it.
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