Compliance
The EEOC held a public meeting on leave of absence as an ADA
accommodation in June 20112 and held out hope that further
guidance would be forthcoming. Such guidance was expected to
be released in April 2012 but was held back by the EEOC at the last
minute. In 2012 EEOC Commissioners Lipnic and Feldblum toured the
country providing the EEOC���s view on the accommodation process and
employer���s duties, touching on leave of absence as an accommodation.
They indicated it is unlikely the EEOC will publish updated guidance
on leave as an accommodation in the near future.
spinning and a fair amount uncertainty regarding how to manage a
request for leave of absence as an ADA accommodation.
Thus, employers are primarily left with the EEOC���s Guidance from 2002
to gain insight into the EEOC���s enforcement perspective; it is now 10
years later with some case law and commentary in the intervening
years ��� but no further clarity from a holistic perspective until the
publication of this paper. Moreover, the court cases are sometimes
at odds with the EEOC interpretations, leaving em- ployers��� heads
���One of the accommodations that consistently confuses JAN���s
employer customers is leave time,��� Batiste said.
According to Batiste, the most common questions typically fall under
the following topics:
��� How much leave must be provided?
��� How often must leave be given?
If you feel confused, you���re not alone. In 2011, the Job
Accommodation Network (JAN), a free consulting service funded
by the U.S. Department of Labor���s Office of Disability Employment
Policy, fielded over 45,000 inquiries, mostly related to job
accommodations and the ADA, according to Linda Carter Batiste,
Principal Consultant with JAN.
WINTER 2012
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