Employment Accommodation Procedure

POLICY STATEMENT

The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is committed to the full inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities in all aspects of university life.  Consistent with the Illinois Human Rights Act, the American with Disabilities Act, and other state and federal law, UIC will provide reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants, candidates, and employees with known disabilities on an individualized basis and will expand coverage to include requests based on medical conditions that may not meet the legal definitions of “disability” or “handicap.”

UIC will notify all applicants, candidates, and employees of their responsibilities and the procedures the University will follow in processing accommodation requests. It is the responsibility of each and every applicant, candidate, and employee with a disability or handicap to submit a request for an accommodation pursuant to established procedures. UIC has no obligation to accommodate disabilities of which it is unaware or disabilities or handicaps not covered by federal or state law.

Requests based on medical conditions not qualifying as disabilities or handicaps under state or federal law may be granted or denied at UIC’s discretion. By considering a request or granting a requested accommodation based on a medical condition, UIC is not considering or regarding the employee as having a disability as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act, or a handicap as defined by the Illinois Human Rights Act.

APPLICABLE LAWS/DEFINITIONS
A. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) - federal law prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities in employment, public service, public accommodations, transportation, and telecommunications.
B. The Rehabilitation Act federal law prohibiting discrimination on the “basis of handicap” by federal contractors and recipients of federal grants.
C. The Illinois Human Rights Act - state law prohibiting discrimination against individuals on the basis of physical or mental handicap.
D. Definitions

1. Medical Condition/Person with a Medical Condition - a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of an individual; a record of such an impairment; or being regarded as having such an impairment.
2. Reasonable Accommodation - may include making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible and useable by individuals with disabilities; and job restructuring, part-time or modified work schedules, reassignment to a vacant position, acquisition or modification of equipment or devices, appropriate adjustment or modifications of examinations, training materials, or policies, the provision of qualified readers or interpreters, and other accommodations for individuals with disabilities.
3. Major Life Activity - means such things as walking, talking, seeing, hearing, breathing, caring for oneself, learning, working, doing manual tasks, and participating in community activities.
4. Qualified Individual with a Medical Condition - an individual who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the employment position that such individual holds or desires.
5. Essential Function - those functions that the individual who holds the position must be able to perform unaided or with the assistance of reasonable accommodation.
6. Auxiliary Aids and Services - includes qualified interpreters or other effective methods of making aurally delivered material available to individuals with hearing impairments; qualified readers, taped texts, or other effective methods of making visually delivered materials available to individuals with visual impairments; acquisition or modification of equipment and devices; and other similar services and actions.
7. Applicant - person who makes application or takes a civil service exam for employment at UIC.
8. Candidate - an applicant invited by UIC to interview for a particular position.
9. Preliminary Decision - the decision made by the unit representative to honor or deny a request for reasonable accommodation after receipt of the Accommodation Request Form.
10. Final Decision - occurs when a preliminary decision is accepted by signature by the requesting employee and OAE, or after OAE review of a preliminary decision to deny request.

For the form: Employee Request for Reasonable Accommodation Based on Medical Condition, see: https://goo.gl/xJcnmP