Applying Performance & Conduct Standards to Employees with Disabilities
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I. INTRODUCTION
“Performance management systems that involve explicit performance expectations, clear performance standards, accurate measures, and reliable performance feedback, and the consistent application of these standards [to all employees], help to reduce the chances of discriminatory ratings.”1 Additionally, employees work most effectively when they clearly understand what is expected of them and know that their performance will be measured against a standard that is fair and applied even-handedly. The same principles apply to workplace rules concerning employee conduct.
Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibit employment discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities, generally do not impinge on the right of employers to define jobs and to evaluate their employees according to consistently applied standards governing performance and conduct. Under both laws, employees with disabilities must meet qualification standards that are job-related and consistent with business necessity and must be able to perform the “essential functions” of the position, with or without reasonable accommodation.
Although, an employee’s disability typically has no bearing on performance or conduct, sometimes an individual’s disability may contribute to performance or conduct problems. When this is the case, a simple reasonable accommodation often may be all that is needed to eliminate the problem. However, EEOC continues to receive questions from both employers and employees about issues such as what steps are appropriate where a disability is causing – or seems to be causing – a performance or conduct problem, when a request for accommodation should be made, and when an employer can properly raise the issue of an employee’s disability as part of a discussion about performance or conduct problems. Even when the disability is not causing the performance or conduct problem, some employers still have questions about what action they can take in light of concerns about potential ADA violations.
This publication discusses relevant ADA requirements, provides practical guidance, and offers examples to demonstrate the responsibilities of both employees and employers when performance and conduct issues arise. It also discusses the role of reasonable accommodation in preventing or addressing performance or conduct problems, including the relationship between reasonable accommodation and disciplinary action and the circumstances in which an accommodation may or may not have to be granted.2 Many of the examples in this document are based on actual cases or on specific scenarios presented to EEOC, and many of the points of “practical guidance” respond to questions received from both employers and individuals with disabilities.
