4 Things Disabled Employees Can Legally Demand From Employers (And 3 They Cannot)

It’s commonly agreed that diversity is a core component of an optimal workforce that brings value to stockholders as well as employees and that many viewpoints give organizations a competitive edge. The Department of Labor emphasizes the importance of inclusive policies and practices to ensure all Americans who want to work can work, and they have access to services and supports to enable them to do so.

However, a new study of over 1,000 job seekers from Sense, found that DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) and working from home were candidate’s lowest priorities with better salary and benefits at the top. The findings do not mean DEI isn’t important but perhaps that it gets pushed lower due to the state of the economy. “The report findings indicate candidates have shifted their priorities from the post-Covid, work from home movement, to a renewed focus on better pay and benefits in order to keep pace with today’s rising costs,” explained Anil Dharni, Sense CEO and co-Founder.

Still, policies don’t change unless the culture changes, according to Gallup: “Diversity is about who you hire. Inclusion is about the respect and acceptance people feel.”In their report, Three Requirements Of A Diverse And Inclusive Culture–And Why They Matter For Your Organization, Gallup states that an inclusive workplace culture includes three aspects:

1. Everyone treats everyone else with respect
2. Managers appreciate the unique characteristics of everyone on their teams
3. Leaders take the right action

According to Roman Peskin, co-founder and CEO of ELVTR, the company behind the leading Workplace DEI course, “Diversity, equity, and inclusion in a workplace is not a fashionable trend—it's the law, quite literally. While I am happy to see that more and more employers are taking the issue seriously, it’s important that each employee also knows what they are legally entitled to and, importantly, what they are not.”

So what is an employee’s legal recourse if an employer doesn’t provide disabled workers what they are entitled to?

4 Things People With Disabilities Can Legally Require

Peskin shared with me four things people with disabilities can legally require from their employers, based on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA):

1. Reasonable accommodation. Reasonable accommodations include changes to the work environment or how work is done so that a person with disability can perform the job like everyone else. He gave the following examples:

• making workplace and non-working areas accessible and usable
• adjustable workstations
• modifying work schedules
• changing or modifying policies, practices, or procedures, including training materials

2. Fair pay and benefits. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetic information. “An employer can't lower your salary or pay you less than other employees doing the same job because of the disability,” Peskin explains. “They also cannot cover the accommodation fees by decreasing your salary or paying you less than other employees in similar positions.”

3. Respect and ethical treatment. If you are applying for a job, an employer cannot ask you if you have a disability, according to Peskin. “They can only ask you about your ability to perform the essential functions of the job with or without a reasonable accommodation,” he says, adding, “They can only require you to take a medical examination after you are hired, as long as they have a policy or practice that requires all employees in the same job category to take the exam.”

4. File charges against discrimination. You may file a charge of discrimination with the EEOC if you believe that you have been discriminated against at work because of your disability. The charge must be filed within 180 to 300 days from the day the discriminatory event took place, depending on state or local agency law. You should contact an attorney or your local EEOC office to find out if there is such a law in your state.

Three Things People With Disabilities Cannot Demand

Peskin delineates three things people with disabilities cannot demand from their employers:

1. Additional health insurance. An employer is not required to provide additional health insurance for an employee with a disability. The ADA only requires employers to provide equal access to the same health insurance coverage to all employees.
2. Avoidance of drug testing. The ADA does not protect employees with disabilities from drug testing, as long as the policy is applied equally to all employees.
3. Preference for employment. An employer is not required to give preference to an individual with a disability over another equally qualified candidate.

Anthony Goonetilleke, Group President at Amdocs, believes that diversity isn’t just a demand but, when viewed as an advantage, it becomes a key pillar of an organization. “Understanding that diversity drives business success is foundational to building a great organization,” he says. “Executives do not have many organizational levers that contribute these types of returns. Although there is nothing wrong with focusing on diversity as an element of ongoing business operations, the moment executives realize that real results are attributable to a diverse organization, it starts to become a key pillar of company strategy rather than an operational objective.”