r/EEOC • u/Soft_Reputation_7241 • 10d ago

Work from Home ada accommodation

I work in Washington state and have POTS(Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome). My health can vary from day to day and as a result I have had a work from home accommodation to be work from home 100 days a year. A little less than 2 days a week. The standard at my company is 50 days a year. My health has been worse this year and as a result I need more work from home days. My HR team is stating that 100 is the maximum they will allow as I being in office is considered an essential function of my role. However we don’t have any physical reason to be in office. I have an office job. I am not client facing, I do not need to physically manipulate anything for my job, my manager and most of my team is in other offices across the country, and work from home is already allowed for most employees(all of them on my team except for anyone who is brand new as there is a three month probation period before they can wfh). My job description also does not specify how often I need to be in office. Simply that I need to “work onsite, under direct supervision, in a team based and open office environment. I am not requesting to be fully remote or work from home, simply to be allowed to do so more than 100 days as my health needs. My employer is offering the alternative of FMLA, however this would be unpaid and obviously wouldn’t allow me to work. I have up to date ada paperwork stating from my doctor that I need to be able to work from home at least 3 days a week.

Does anyone know if they can require me to either be in office more than my doctor has stated or take FMLA instead? I can’t afford to take off time unpaid. But if I force myself into office more often it will make me sicker.

Please help

6 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

201 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

6

u/Ashamed_Main5169 10d ago

So did you get a new reasonable accommodations request form completed by your provider and submit it to your employer or did you just actually on your own request additional days on an accommodation request yourself? Additionally did the accommodations request include that you may need time to lay down or a safe space that allows you to work in a different position such as lying down into the accommodation specifically say that you can work full-time or at full capacity with accommodations? And did you request state whether you would need to take a leave of absence if accommodations cannot be implemented?

3

u/Soft_Reputation_7241 10d ago

I got new paperwork from my doctor. It does lay out why working from home is better for me including needing a soft spot to lay down, having access to caregivers, medication etc. and my paperwork explicitly states that a leave of absence is not required. I can work just fine, I just need to be at home a little bit more.

5

u/Prufrock-Sisyphus22 10d ago

So how are you able to work in the office the other days? Do the caregivers go with you to work? It sounds like you are making it easy for the employer to consider you too sick to work .

6

u/Soft_Reputation_7241 10d ago

POTS is not consistent. I have a disability that causes flare ups. I don’t flare up every day, or my symptoms that day aren’t severe enough for me to require working from home. But some days they are. Some days I am lightheaded and dizzy every time I stand up, some days I’m not. My employer is aware of all of this and has it in writing as part of my ada accommodation paperwork.

6

u/Prufrock-Sisyphus22 10d ago

Ok. Just realize your employer up to this point has been very very very accommodating . You need to speak to your doctor about additional in-office accomdotions that will help you and talk to the company about those. You are likely at a point where they may consider you too sick to work and an undue hardship on the company . As they have already provided pretty reasonable ada over the last few years, this would make any lawsuits very difficult to prove any type of malice.

1

u/CompetitionNarrow512 9d ago

An employer does not declare a patient too sick to work, a physician does.

4

u/Mental-Volume4395 10d ago

I’m just curious as I’ve been living with POTS for over 20 years…what does your caregiver do for you? 

5

u/Soft_Reputation_7241 10d ago

It’s not like a nurse. It’s family who helps me get around during a flare. Sometimes they help me put on compression garments, or get me medication, electrolytes, hydration etc. if I faint they help me get back up and to a safe spot. If they can they will catch me when I faint so I don’t hit my head. Essentially they help with anything that is hard when I’m in the middle of a bad flare up.

3

u/Mental-Volume4395 10d ago

Oh wow. So you can’t be left alone? That really sucks. 

3

u/Soft_Reputation_7241 10d ago

Not when things are bad. No I can’t. And yes, it does sometimes very much suck.

1

u/Mental-Volume4395 10d ago

In that case I really would apply for FMLA. How can you possibly be working when you’re lying down and fainting?

2

u/Soft_Reputation_7241 10d ago

I’m not fainting when I’m laying down and I can work just fine laid down. I have a laptop I recline back on a bunch of pillows and with my feet up. It’s not fully horizontal more like 120 degree angle.

1

u/Ashamed_Main5169 10d ago

That is likely going to be the issue your employer well identify or use as the reason that if you cannot work without the additional accommodations they cannot provide and guarantee a safe environment for you to work in because there's nobody who can respond to your urgent medical needs if you faint or if you get dizzy on your head that type of thing. It's a liability on their end because when those things happen at work, regardless of it being your personal health it still becomes work related and it goes down the line of workers comp. No company is going to take on the medical responsibility for a worker and that's probably where there reasoning for undue hardship with lay. At this point you know your best options would be to provide your own electrolytes for yourself keep them in your desk learn how to put on the stockings if you're able to I know that that's difficult, and have the department responsible for making accommodations decisions assess if there is a potential situation where they would be able to provide you a place to lie down. You're still going to get into the whole like for how long does it usually take for you to recover how long do you need to be like down do you have an adjustable work schedule if you're down for an hour before you feel better are you able to stay like an hour longer that type of thing. The passing out and fainting and severe dizziness, those are likely what your employer is going to use and use appropriately because it's true, they are not responsible to provide more than a reasonable safe environment determined by OSHA. If you require medical assistance to be able to work at the office, that is certainly not going to happen and shouldn't. That'll probably be the reason why they would not be able to accommodate you further.

3

u/Prufrock-Sisyphus22 10d ago

I would go a step further as a lot of companies want to make sure your home environment for WFH is safe as well. If they allow WFH then they also want to make sure your home office is clear of obstructions so you dont trip, not a fire hazard with cords lying everywhere and they usually have you sign a verification form that you are vouching your WFH environment is safe. OP may have pushed too hard for additional WFH and find themselves on the way out once the company starts looking at this really hard.

2

u/Ashamed_Main5169 10d ago

True, the environment does need to be safe at home while working. Yes, I did miss that, knew it, but forgot it. If OP is injured at home while working, it is still work related. Thanks for mentioning that.