Americans with Disabilities Act and COVID-19 Laura Bowen and - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Americans with Disabilities Act

and COVID-19

Laura Bowen and Teresa Horton CTA Staff

Agenda

• Intro of staff/purpose of training
• Risk factors with COVID-19
• ADA and the Interactive Process Meeting for

Accommodations

• Meeting with your doctor and work restrictions
• Preparing for the meeting – brainstorming

accommodations

• Please hold your questions until the very end

People of any age with the following conditions are at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19

• Chronic kidney disease
• COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
• Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) from solid organ

transplant

• Obesity (body mass index [BMI] of 30 or higher)
• Serious heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease
• r cardiomyopathies
• Sickle cell disease
• Type 2 diabetes mellitus

Know Your Risks with COVID-19

Source: CDC as of June 25, 2020

Know Your Risks with COVID-19

Source: CDC as of June 25, 2020

Based on what we know at this time, people with the following conditions might be at an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19

• Asthma (moderate to severe)
• Cerebrovascular disease (affects blood vessels and blood supply to the brain)
• Cystic fibrosis
• Hypertension or high blood pressure
• Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) from blood or bone

marrow transplant, immune deficiencies, HIV, use of corticosteroids or use of

• ther immune weakening medicines
• Neurologic conditions, such as dementia

Know Your Risks with COVID-19

Source: CDC as of June 25, 2020

Based on what we know at this time, people with the following conditions might be at an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19 (continued)

• Liver disease
• Pregnancy
• Pulmonary fibrosis (having damaged or scarred lung tissue)
• Smoking
• Thalassemia (a type of blood disorder)
• Type 1 diabetes mellitus

What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA

• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Website, Section D
• https://www.eeoc.gov/wysk/what-you-should-know-about-covid-19-and-ada-

rehabilitation-act-and-other-eeo-laws

• Get a doctor’s note and run it by CTA Staff or your chapter president
• Turn your doctor’s note into HR (not your site admin or secretary)
• HR will set up an Interactive Process Meeting
• You may bring your Site Rep, Chapter President and/or CTA

Representative (Laura Bowen) with you

• District looks at the essential functions of the job (job description)
• This creates a legal document until you get a new doctor’s note

During the “Interactive” Meeting

• HR may ask you:
• How the disability creates a limitation
• How the requested accommodation will effectively address the

limitation

• Whether another form of accommodation could effectively

address the issue

• How a proposed accommodation will enable you to continue

performing the "essential functions" of your position (that is, the fundamental job duties)

During the “Interactive” Meeting (continued)

• Is your request a reasonable accommodation? The key word here is

“reasonable”

• Does it place an undue hardship on the district? HR may deny a

request for an accommodation. They do not have to create a position

• r move another employee out of a position
• Options: Medical leave (paid), unpaid leave
• Be careful of talking yourself out of a job
• Don’t refuse to talk about options – you have to participate

Requires a Doctor’s Note

Possible Doctor’s Note:

To Whom it may concern, I certify that my patient ________ has a disability based on a medical condition that is also generally recognized as a pre-existing medical condition that places him/her at a significantly higher risk for serious infection, and even death, from the COVID-19

• virus. Based on this pre-existing condition and the circumstances of

the current pandemic, he/she has the following work restrictions: ______________.

Possible RESTRICTIONS at the Worksite

Brainstorm with your physician

• Must be in a room that is ventilated with operable windows
• Must be in a room with filtered air
• Must not work more than “___” hours a week in a classroom
• Cannot be in an enclosed environment with “___” number of people for

“___” amount of time (be very careful as this could talk you out of a job)

• Must be able to wash hands every “___” minutes (or use hand sanitizer)
• Must wear a district-provided N95 or kN95 mask

Possible RESTRICTIONS at the Worksite

Brainstorm with your physician (continued)

• Students must maintain 12 feet from the teacher’s desk (with

students masked or unmasked?)

• Students and adults must maintain social distancing of 6 feet if they

are in the classroom for more than 15 minutes (CDC recommendation)

• Teacher will not be required to clean/disinfect the classroom
• Must not do temperature checks of students, parents or staff on

campus

• Other ideas?

Possible ACCOMODATIONS at the Worksite Brainstorm with your rep (prior to the meeting) and with the district at the meeting

• Remote working/online teaching
• N95 or kN95 mask for the teacher (and the students?)
• Face shield for the teacher
• HEPA air filter for the teacher’s desk
• Teacher will not be required to clean/disinfect the classroom

Possible ACCOMODATIONS at the Worksite (continued) Brainstorm with your rep (prior to the meeting) and with the district at the meeting

• Option to attend teacher meetings virtually/teleconferencing
• Option to attend parent conference, Back to School Night, Open

House virtually/teleconferencing

• Option to attend IEP/SST meetings virtually/teleconferencing
• Outside tented classroom as an option
• Washing station in the classroom

Possible ACCOMODATIONS at the Worksite (continued) Brainstorm with your rep (prior to the meeting) and with the district at the meeting

• Open windows, plexiglass around teacher’s desk/student’s desk,

barriers, etc.

• Students seated 12 feet from teacher
• Social Distancing: Students seated 6 feet from each other
• Staggered start and end time to minimize movement around

students and adults

• Other ideas?

Q & A

• Use the Chat Box to answer questions.
• If you have personal medical questions, email your staff person.
• If we don’t get to all the questions, please email your staff

person.

• Teresa Horton at thorton@cta.org for the SD RRC chapters.
• Laura Bowen at lbowen@cta.org for CVEA,GEA and LGTA chapters.
• Handouts and PowerPoint are available on the UniServ website at

www.ectu.org or CVEA, GEA or LGTA’s websites.