Article 31 - Americans with Disabilities Act

Section 1. Purpose. The Association and the Employer agree that they have a joint obligation to provide reasonable accommodation to individuals qualified under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and to place employees returning from workers' compensation injuries. Reasonable accommodation request(s) raising the question of waiving provisions of the Agreement shall be handled in accordance with Section 3 of this Article. 

Section 2. Information. At the Association's request, the Appointing Authority shall provide a report of all accommodation requests whether approved or denied. The report shall include accommodations made and the cost of each accommodation. Both parties recognize their responsibility for confidentiality. 

Section 3. Process. An employee seeking an accommodation shall be provided Association representation at the employee's request. The Association representative and requesting employee shall be allowed release time as provided in Article 9, Section 2(C)5. 

While considering employee requests for accommodation, the Appointing Authority shall review other options, including, but not limited to equipment purchase or modification, accessibility improvement and scheduling modifications and/or restructuring of duties allowable under the Agreement, before considering or requesting waiver(s). 

If the Appointing Authority believes that an Agreement waiver is necessary, it shall notify the Association’s Executive Director and they shall arrange for a Meet and Confer to be held within a reasonable period of time. The Appointing Authority shall inform the Association at this meeting, if not before, of the employee's restriction(s) (subject to each party's confidentiality obligations), the specified accommodations being offered by the Appointing Authority, any article(s) being proposed for a waiver and the manner in which the Appointing Authority proposes to modify the article(s). The Appointing Authority shall consider additional options for accommodations presented by the Association. No less than five (5) working days following the Meet and Confer, the Association shall present any additional options for accommodations. After the Appointing Authority has considered all options, including those suggested by the Association, the Appointing Authority shall notify the Association of its final proposal for accommodation, including any proposals that would require waiver(s) of any article(s) of the Agreement. 

The Appointing Authority may waive any provision of the Agreement for the purpose of providing a temporary reasonable accommodation for up to fourteen (14) calendar days after providing notice to the Association of the need for the waiver. The Association Executive Director may extend the period on a case-by-case basis. Any waiver of provisions of the Agreement extending beyond fourteen (14) calendar days must be in writing and must be agreed to by both the Association and the Appointing Authority.