Washington State Human Rights Commission

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/ta5.htm

Technical Assistance for Caseworkers on Civil Rights Laws and Welfare Reform

V. What Conduct on the Basis of Disability Is Prohibited?

Programs and Services
Welfare providers may not discriminate against any qualified individual with a disability in providing services or administering any program or activity, whether or not the program receives Federal financial assistance. In general, an individual with a disability is "qualified" if that person meets the essential eligibility requirements for receipt of services or participation in the program or activity. Welfare providers may not refuse to allow a person with a disability to participate because the person has a disability, and they must eliminate unnecessary eligibility standards or rules that deny an individual with a disability an equal opportunity to participate. Welfare providers may not harass a program participant or applicant on the basis of a disability.
Examples:

The director of a county day care program for the children of welfare participants who are attending employment training programs may not refuse to accept children who have emotional problems or who take medication for a disability into the program.
A community college offering job-training for welfare participants may not require students with disabilities to provide medical histories if such histories are not required of all students.
A welfare office may not refuse to permit guide dogs and other service animals assisting individuals with disabilities to accompany those individuals into the office.
A welfare office may not exempt individuals with disabilities from work activities, education, or training opportunities based on assumptions that such individuals are not qualified to participate in training or work.
An intake clerk in a food stamp office may not create a hostile environment by mimicking a person with Tourette’s Syndrome.

Welfare providers are required to make reasonable modifications in policies, practices, and procedures that deny equal access to individuals with disabilities, unless a fundamental alteration in the program would result.
Examples:

A job-training course for welfare participants must extend testing time when a person with a learning disability requests extra time to complete the test because of his or her disability. The course provider may ask the individual who is seeking extra time to provide reasonable documentation of the learning disability and the additional time that is required.
A welfare program with a complicated application will need to modify its application form or provide someone to help fill out the form when a person with a mental disability is unable to complete the form.
A state welfare agency may seek alternatives to the work participation requirement if an individual with a disability, with or without reasonable accommodation, is not able to perform the essential functions of any available job.

Welfare providers must ensure that programs and services are provided in an integrated setting, unless separate or different measures are necessary to ensure equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities. Programs that provide special benefits to people with disabilities are permitted, but people with disabilities cannot be compelled to participate in those programs.
Examples:

A county social service center that provides a hot lunch program for senior citizens may not require people with HIV to be served in a separate room from the other participants.
A county vocational training program may offer special training opportunities for people with vision impairments, but it may not require people with vision impairments to participate in the special program or refuse to permit them to participate in courses open to other program participants.

Welfare providers must ensure effective communication with individuals who have hearing, speech, or vision impairments. Programs must provide auxiliary aids and services (such as Braille material, sign language interpreters, readers, or text telephones (TTY's)) when necessary to ensure effective communication but they are not required to provide auxiliary aids that will result in a fundamental alteration of the program or service or that will result in undue financial and administrative burdens.
Examples:

A municipal job placement program that makes information about job openings available by telephone must ensure that the information is available to users of TTY's.
A city welfare office that provides printed information about eligibility requirements to applicants must ensure that the same information is provided on audiotape or in Braille for people who have vision impairments.
Job training programs for welfare participants must provide sign language interpreters for deaf students when it is necessary to ensure effective communication for those students.

Welfare providers may not exclude individuals with disabilities from programs and activities because buildings are inaccessible, but the providers are not required to take any action that would result in a fundamental alteration in the nature of the program or activity, or in undue financial and administrative burdens. This means generally that providers need not remove physical barriers, such as stairs in existing buildings, as long as they make their programs accessible to individuals with disabilities in other locations or through other methods, such as home visits.
Examples:

A welfare office that is located on the second floor of a building that has no elevator may make its services accessible to an applicant who uses a wheelchair by meeting with that applicant in an accessible ground floor office. However, if all the other participants met together for discussions on the second floor and they could not meet on the ground floor, the limited access would be insufficient.
A food stamp office located in an inaccessible space may make its services accessible to a person with a mobility impairment by alternative methods. For example, a food stamp office may mail an application to an applicant and conduct a home visit to determine eligibility, or interview the applicant's designated representative at the office. Food stamps may also be mailed to that person's residence or picked up by the representative.
A job training program that usually offers classes in an inaccessible second-floor classroom may make its program accessible by relocating the class to an accessible classroom in another building.

Welfare providers must ensure that newly constructed buildings and facilities are free of architectural and communication barriers that restrict access or use by individuals with disabilities. Welfare providers are not required to retrofit existing buildings to eliminate barriers, but when alterations are undertaken, the altered elements must be made accessible. However, if program access cannot be provided without structural modifications, structural modifications must be made.
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Employment
The ADA prohibits employment discrimination against any qualified individual with a disability because of that individual’s disability in regard to job application procedures, the hiring and discharge of employees, employee compensation, advancement, job training, or any other terms, conditions, or privileges of employment. For purposes of employment, an individual with a disability is “qualified” if that individual, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the job in question.
Employers and those referring welfare participants to employers may not impose qualification standards that screen out any individual with a disability or a class of individuals with disabilities unless such standards are shown to be job related and consistent with business necessity. Even if the standard is job related and consistent with business necessity, the employer or referring entity that imposes the standard must consider whether there is a reasonable accommodation that will enable a welfare participant with a disability to meet the standard.
The ADA limits an employer’s ability to ask questions of applicants and employees regarding the existence, nature, or severity of a disability and to require medical examinations. Employers may not ask disability-related questions of applicants or require medical examinations before an offer of employment is made. Preemployment medical examinations and disability related questions are permitted after an offer of employment has been made so long as the questions or exams are given to all individuals in the job category. However, if an applicant has a known disability that may prevent the individual from performing the essential function of the job, the employer may ask how, with or without reasonable accommodation, the applicant would perform the specific tasks required. If an applicant’s known disability will not interfere with the performance of a job-related function, then the employer may request a description or demonstration of how the applicant would perform the job duties only if the employer makes the same inquiry of all applicants in the same category. After an applicant is hired, an employer may ask disability-related questions or require medical examinations only if they are job-related and consistent with business necessity.
Examples:

A welfare recipient has just applied for a job as a data entry clerk. As she is filling out a personnel form, she mentions this is the first job she has had since she developed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. The personnel manager cannot ask her for the name of her doctor so he can check that she is not still under treatment. The personnel manager may ask her to demonstrate or describe how she would perform her job-related duties.
An employer may want to require that all job applicants have a driver’s license. This requirement may exclude an individual with epilepsy, mental illness, or blind people as a group. If driving is an essential function of the position, for example, a bus driver’s job, no change in this policy would be required. However, if an applicant is seeking a position for which having a driver’s license is merely convenient — for example, a secretarial position, the employer would be prohibited from applying this requirement to an applicant who does not have a driver’s license because of a disability.

Employers are required to provide reasonable accommodations to employees to enable them to perform the essential functions of the job unless the employer can demonstrate that providing a reasonable accommodation would cause an undue hardship to the employer. An “undue hardship” is an action requiring significant difficulty or expense in light of the nature and cost of the accommodation and the overall resources of the employer, the type of business in question, and the impact on the operations of the business. “Reasonable accommodation” includes, but is not limited to, modifying existing facilities to make them accessible, acquiring or modifying equipment, providing readers or sign language interpreters, offering part-time or modified work schedules, or restructuring the duties of the job.
Examples:

An employer normally requires all employees to have a driver’s license but that requirement is not job-related and consistent with business necessity for the position of secretary. A secretary employed by the company develops epilepsy, and, as a result, is unable to renew his license. Therefore, the employer cannot apply the driver’s license requirement to the secretary who is unable to renew his license because he developed epilepsy.
A job training program offered by an employer may be required to provide sign language interpreters for deaf employees when it is necessary to enable them to participate in the training.
An accountant with a vision impairment is hired by a welfare provider. That employer may be required to provide reasonable accommodation for the accountant by obtaining computer equipment to enable the accountant to read printed material.
A welfare recipient who uses a wheelchair obtains a job on the clerical staff of an employer whose offices are in a building that has two steps at the entrance. The employer may be required to provide reasonable accommodation for the employee by providing a ramp at the building entrance.

Index: Technical Assistance for Caseworkers

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