To: Penny Robertson, Brian Boling, Shannon Davis, Leah Feldon, Jessica Knieling - DAS CHRO

We, DEQ employees and members of AFSCME Local 3336, call on DEQ leadership and HR to abide by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and implement processes that both keep employees safe while providing employees the accommodations they need to do their jobs.

DEQ HR is currently discriminating against a Vehicle Inspection Program employee who has requested to use a cane. HR is failing to engage appropriately in an ADA interactive process, as the employee requested to enter the ADA process in April and now four months later HR has failed to provide an official response to their ADA request. This policy and law violating delay has forced the employee out of work, causing undue harm (financial harm, physical harm and mental harm) to said employee. This is also creating considerable hardship for their coworkers who are already burdened by being understaffed. This is an employee who wants to come to work and do their job and help their coworkers, and DEQ is standing in their way!

Any DEQ employee could become disabled at any time, and we want to ensure that every individual needing an accommodation is treated fairly and in accordance with the law. DEQ must work to create an agency where all employees feel supported and feel able to contribute, regardless of their need for an accommodation. We demand that DEQ HR stop discriminating against employees and follow the ADA to the law.

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION!

Sincerely,

AFSCME Local 3336 Stewards representing this employee

If you would like more information before signing, keep reading:

Background:

• An individual who was safely using a cane for several months in the VIP lanes has been denied the use of their cane by HR
• There’s currently no restriction for members of the public who may need a cane in the VIP lanes
• HR has verbally denied the accommodation request to use the cane and has barred the employee from working with the cane while they go through the ADA process, however HR has still not provided an official response to the request.
• HR has been unwilling to hear our recommendations for accommodations that would make the work area safer for the employee, as well as their coworkers and members of the public, and has thus far, denied them without even giving them consideration. This is illegal under the ADA.
• The ADA requires an individual assessment to approve or deny an accommodation, however HR is attempting to use a generalized third party report to validate their denial instead of addressing the potential safety hazards identified in the report.

ADA process requirements:

• Individualized assessment of the individual requesting accommodation(s).
• To deny an accommodation, it must qualify as a direct threat (significant risk of substantial harm to the health or safety of the individual or others that cannot be eliminated or reduced by reasonable accommodation)
• To determine alternate accommodation, employers must identify the precise limitations resulting from the disability and the potential reasonable accommodations that could overcome those limitations.
• DAS policy states that “the agency must review and respond in a timely manner to each request for accommodation” and that “the agency must engage in an interactive dialogue with the employee to determine whether the accommodation is necessary and will be effective”.

Over the last four months, HR has not provided documentation showing any individual assessment has ever been conducted nor have they shown any assessment or claim of a cane being a direct threat. Additionally, HR specified that they did not and could not help determine an alternate accommodation or “change their business practices” to make the work area safer, a clear violation of DAS policy. This put the onus on the employee to walk without a cane (increasing their risk of injury) or stay out of work.

This is a blatant violation of the ADA process, which is federal law.

HR has attempted to prematurely move to the next step in the ADA process, which would be to move them to another vacant position in which they meet the MQs, should one exist. However, in the weeks since HR said they would look for vacant positions for the employee, multiple positions have been posted in which the employee could have been qualified to move into. HR specified that if another vacant position could not be found, the employee would be provided 30 days notice of their employment being terminated with DEQ. Someone losing their employment can be a serious threat to their access to healthcare, livelihood, and housing. We are shocked that this is how the agency is choosing to treat an employee who has dedicated over a decade of their life to the agency’s mission.

We would also like to take a moment to acknowledge that employees of DEQ who work in the Vehicle Inspection Program have historically been treated differently than employees at the rest of the agency, and it’s hard not to wonder if that is a factor in this case. Some recent examples of this different treatment are:

• Equipment that is not up to standards of the rest of the agency, such as lack of available computers to check emails or do trainings, broken equipment (a violation of our Technology Equity LOA)
• Work stations that are not up to ergonomic safety standards
• Broken air conditioning units during some of the hottest days of the summer
• Managers in VIP not following the Work Options documents or saying that they do not apply to vehicle inspectors

Please sign our petition to support this employee and future employees requesting ADA accommodations!