The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates that effective reasonable accommodations be provided to qualified persons with disabilities, as defined by law, to ensure benefits and privileges of employment and are accessible by all employees. The ADA also requires that PWCS ensure the public, such as parents or guardians, visitors, or other constituents, has equal access to PWCS programs, services, and activities.
To help us determine whether your medical condition constitutes a disability as defined by the ADA and, if so, whether reasonable accommodations can be provided, the Disability Accommodation Request Form is to be completed by you and your physician.
Employees seeking accommodations related to their employment with PWCS should complete the following request form:
Disability Accommodation Request Form
Please keep a copy of this completed form for your records and submit the signed original form to [email protected].
Citizens seeking reasonable accommodations should complete the questionnaire found here:
Reasonable Accommodation Request Form for Citizens
Requests should be submitted at least five days before the accommodation is needed. If you need help completing this form, please contact us at [email protected].
Employees should receive notification of the findings and recommendations within 30 days upon receipt of the completed request. All efforts will be made to ensure that requests from the public are resolved prior to the program, service, or activity giving rise to the needed accommodation(s).
Reasonable accommodations are changes made to a job or the workplace, or other program, service, or activity, that enables an employee, job applicant, or citizen to participate equally in the workforce or access public services. For employees, the goal is to enable an individual to successfully perform the position's essential functions and/or protect his or her health.
For citizens, the goal is to ensure they can receive the benefits of the programs, services, and activities PWCS offers. A reasonable accommodation does not change the essential functions of the job or the essential nature of a program, service, or activity. Whether a particular accommodation request is reasonable depends upon the situation and the type of job, program, service, or activity.
Those job duties that are so fundamental to the position that one cannot do the job without performing the duties. A function can be essential if, among other things: the position exists specifically for the performance of that function; there are a limited number of other individuals who could perform the function; or the function is specialized and the individual is hired based on his or her ability to perform the function. The determination of the essential functions of a position must be done on a case-by-case basis so that the determination reflects not simply the components of a generic position description, but the job as it is actually performed.
Undue hardship means that a specific accommodation would require significant difficulty or expense. Undue hardship is always determined on a case-by-case basis, considering factors that include the nature and cost of the accommodation requested and the impact of the accommodation on the operations of the division.
Reassignment is a "last resort" form of reasonable accommodation that, absent undue hardship, is provided to employees who, because of a disability, can no longer perform the essential functions of their jobs, with or without reasonable accommodation. In addition, an employer is not required to create a new job or to "bump" another employee from a job to provide a reasonable accommodation; nor is an employer required to promote an individual with a disability to make such an accommodation. If reassignment is the accommodation, the employee will be given a "reasonable amount of time" in which to seek alternate employment with the division. Reassignments are made only to funded vacant positions and only to employees who are qualified for the new position.