This week the EEOC published a resource document intended to provide guidance on providing disabled employees with leave of absence as a reasonable accommodation.
According to the Commission,
[It] continues to receive charges indicating that some employers may be unaware of Commission positions about leave and the ADA. For example, some employers may not know that they may have to modify policies that limit the amount of leave employees can take when an employee needs additional leave as a reasonable accommodation. Employer policies that require employees on extended leave to be 100 percent healed or able to work without restrictions may deny some employees reasonable accommodations that would enable them to return to work. Employers also sometimes fail to consider reassignment as an option for employees with disabilities who cannot return to their jobs following leave.
The new publication articulates the Commission’s view on certain aspects of how employers should handle leaves of absence as a reasonable accommodation. It’s worth quick review for a refresher on the rules for provide leave as a reasonable accommodation. Unfortunately, it doesn’t provide any meaningful guidance on what are the tough leave issues like providing a guidance on when an employee leave of absence is so long as to become indefinite or open-ended so as to become unreasonable.
You can download the new publication here.