Page 13 - BusinessWest Macrh 6, 2023

“Employers should remember that there is no magic word
for requesting
a reasonable accommodation; an individual simply has to tell the employer that he or
she needs an adjustment or change at work because of an impairment.”
Sound Advice
EEOC Releases New Guidance on Hearing Disabilities
BY TREVOR BRICE, ESQ.
On Jan. 24, the Equal Employment Opportunity Com- mission (EEOC) released new guidance for employers on how and when to accommodate applicants and
employees with hearing disabilities.
The guidance covers when an employer may ask an appli-
cant or employee questions about a hearing condition and how it should treat voluntary disclosures of a condition, what types of reasonable accommodations applicants or employ- ees with hearing disabilities may need, how an employer should handle safety concerns about applicants and employ- ees with hearing disabilities, and how an employer can ensure that no employee is harassed because of a hearing disability or any other disability.
This guidance is an update to the original guidance that the EEOC released regarding accommodations for deafness and hearing disabilities in the workplace on May 7, 2014.
Questioning Employees and Applicants on Hearing Disabilities
In general, before offering an individual a job, avoid ask- ing the applicant about hearing disabilities or any disabilities or requiring an applicant to have a medical examination before a conditional job offer. However, the limited exception to this general rule is if an applicant has an obvious impair- ment or has voluntarily disclosed an impairment, and the employer reasonably believes that the applicant will require an accommodation to complete the application process or to
perform the job because of the condition.
If this is the case, the employer may ask if the applicant
will need an accommodation and what type. However, as
a best practice in the pre-offer stage, it is prudent for an employer to stick to questions about the applicant’s ability to perform the position’s essential functions, with or without reasonable accommodation, such as whether the applicant can respond quickly to instructions in a noisy, fast-paced work environment.
After making a conditional job offer, an employer may ask questions about the applicant’s health (including questions about an applicant’s disability, including deafness and hear- ing disabilities) and may require a medical examination as long as all applicants for the same type of job are subjected to the same requirement.
For current employees, an employer may ask disability- related questions or require an employee to have a medical examination when the employer knows about a particular employee’s medical condition, has observed performance problems, and reasonably believes that the performance problems are related to a medical condition. However, the EEOC notes that employers should take precautions in this situation, as performance problems often are unrelated to a medical condition, and the problems should be handled in accordance with
the employer’s exist-
ing policies regarding
performance.
Hearing
>>
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