Veronica is a repair person for Wind Power Company. The job requires traveling to remote areas to make repairs to windmills, transmission towers, and power stations under any conditions

Question

Veronica has had the job longer than other employees. Veronica applies for a promotion to a supervisory position that requires constant communication with others in the field. Wind Power rejects the application on the ground that Veronica is hearing impaired. Wind Power acknowledges that Veronica is otherwise quali-fied, but asserts that it "needs someone who does not have a hear-ing problem." Veronica files a suit against Wind Power under the Americans with Disabilities Act. What is the issue, and what are the relevant considerations on which its resolution depends?

Answer 1

The issue is whether hiring a sign interpreter is a reasonable accommodation for an employee or an undue hardship for the employer.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits employers from refusing to hire (or promote) disabled persons who are otherwise qualified for a particular position. An employer may have to make reasonable accommodations for a disabled applicant, but that will not cause the applicant to be considered unqualified. Reasonable accommodations might include creating new job assignments, and creating or improving training materials and procedures. Employers who do not wish to make such accommodations must demonstrate that the accommodations will cause "undue hardship." The law offers no uniform standards for identi-fying what is an undue hardship, but there are limits to the employer's obligation to accommo-date an employee under the ADA. Accommodation cannot impose a "significant difficulty or expense" on the employer. Also, if a disabled employee can perform the essentials of his or her job with-out accommodation, then no violation of the ADA has occurred.

Besides hiring a sign interpreter to accompany a deaf employee, in some cases a company could train an employee's coworkers in American Sign Language. The basics of sign language can be learned in just a few hours, so the expense to the company would be minimal. In the facts of this question,?

contact among distant field workers might be accomplished via texting and other visual means.