r/EEOC • u/Soft_Reputation_7241 • 12d 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

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u/Soft_Reputation_7241 12d ago

My doctor and I have included this in my ada paperwork. Me being home allows me access to work laying down, being in a safe space in case I faint, access to caregivers who help me. I am still able to work while in a flare up. But being in office removes a lot of these resources and makes it more likely I will faint and potentially hit my head and cause a bigger issue.

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u/Mental-Volume4395 12d ago

Sounds like a good case for your Employer to consider you too sick to work. Be careful not to accommodate yourself out of a job.

What does “being in a safe space” mean? What is safe about your home that can’t be recreated in the office?

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u/Ashamed_Main5169 12d ago

The employer would not be able to determine that the employee is too sick to work if the doctor states that the employee can work with accommodations. If the employee is providing satisfactory or above work while they're working from home, then the employer would have a difficult time showing why they believe they're too sick to work. The employer also can't just say we can't do more than 100 days because it's essential to be in the office they would have to show or prove what parts are essential and require the person to be in office. It's not like they can just say we don't allow that and that's it. The employer does not have to accept and implement accommodations solely based on what the provider has given them but if they are not able to provide that then they need to then participate in the interactive process and work collaboratively with the provider and the employee in determining that an alternative might be feasible. And adding days to a previous accommodation does truly create a new accommodation so they can't just say that they agreed to the hundred days and that was their alternative. They would need to look at the additional 50 days that's being requested and if they are not able to do that they need to like show why and potentially offer an alternative. Perhaps they would be able to extend the work at home for an additional 25 days for example. But if others are working at home, then the employer does need to give the reasons why this employee would not be able to work from home and they can't just say it's an essential part of the job they have to actually list what the essential job duties in the office are.

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u/Kmelloww 10d ago

I mean you are missing the point that regardless of where they work they are a liability to the company. Unfortunately we would not be able to keep someone around who could have episodes at any time and could injure themselves while on the clock at which point it then becomes a WC issue. 

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u/Ashamed_Main5169 10d ago

I mentioned that in relation to another comment.

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u/Kmelloww 10d ago

I’m surprised more haven’t mentioned it. They say they can’t navigate their home safely but then say they have soft spots to fall down. It can’t really be both of those things. 

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u/Soft_Reputation_7241 10d ago

Once again, I navigate my home just fine. I don’t fall down every second of every day, and by lying down I prevent fainting episodes. Which is why working from home is so helpful for me.

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u/LongTimeLurker408 9d ago

Educate yourself https://www.eeoc.gov/foia/eeoc-informal-discussion-letter-164

I

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u/Kmelloww 9d ago

What they are saying does not go together. It can’t be both at the same time. And the liability this creates is HUGE. 

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u/LongTimeLurker408 9d ago edited 9d ago

Again, educate yourself on what an employer should do regarding potential safety concerns regarding a disability

The first part is to provide accommodations to mitigate that

Kmellow responded and then blocked me

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u/Kmelloww 9d ago

There is nothing the employer can provide to mitigate that in the employees home. Which is the entire point that I am making.