The Court Of Public Opinion

JAN – the Job Accommodation Network is, without doubt, the absolute best resource and link for anyone who is disabled, who is facing becoming disabled, and who is still working! The purposes of this article are:

to describe what this Resource is;

to give you an example of what types of information it can provide for you;

to give you an example (from my own experience) of how you can trigger the ADA (Americans with Disability Act) to continue working as your company provides you with reasonable accommodations;

and, to give you a link to this very valuable website.

OK, let’s say that you have just been told by your Neurologist that the series of conditions that have been making you miserable for over the past 35 years really are the result of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). My first reaction was, OH DARN!!!

At this point in time, I was struggling to keep 2 kids in college, and was working in the best job that I had ever had! I was the Vice President of Human Resources for a Ship Repair Yard. My staff and I provided Human Resorces services to over 2,500 employees in 11 crafts (Unions) running a 24 (hour)/7 (days) week operations. (Note: you can see more about me by going to the About Us section of the www.disabilitykey.com website.)

My next reaction, since I am an ingrained control freak, I decided to become an Expert Patient, even though I would not discover that phrase until over a decade later. If I was to become a Chronic Disease Self-Manager (again, I would not discover that phrase until over a dacade later) I needed to know all about Multiple Sclerosis, its symptoms, and, for whatever symptoms I had, their explicit impact on me. For, you see, my wonderful Doctor and I had been practicing Patient-centered health care (another yet-to-be-discovered concept) for years up to that point.

AND, since I still had bills to pay, two kids to keep in college (and those of you who have experienced this, you KNOW how expensive college is these days) I needed to keep working. But, my job skills were becoming increasingly more impacted by my MS symptoms. I knew that I must research, in addition to the disease, the concept of working while disabled.

Here, in a nutshell, is what I discovered. (By the way – I very much wish that there had been information like this for me to access when I needed it; that’s one of the reasons that I am so passionate about providing the information to y’all, so that you can use it in your own unique situations.)

I learned that there was a federal law called ADA. (OK, truth time; I already knew about this law as a Human Resources professional; what I mean to say, is that now I knew about the law as a DISABLED PERSON. Believe you me, the two knowings are as different as are night from day! One is academic, the other is experiential. It is the very nature of my experiential knowledge about disability and other stuff that fires me up to share the information with you so you don’t have to recreate the wheel.) Here is how the JAN describes WHAT the patterns and pracatices of a Company’s employment nondiscrimination policies are under the ADA: The ADA prohibits discrimination in all employment practices, including job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. It applies to recruitment, advertising, tenure, layoff, leave, fringe benefits, and all other employment-related activities.

This is how the JAN describes WHO is covered by the ADA: Employment discrimination is prohibited against qualified individuals with disabilities. This includes applicants for employment and employees. An individual is considered to have a disability if s/he has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of such an impairment, or is regarded as having such an impairment. Persons discriminated against because they have a known association or relationship with an individual with a disability also are protected.

Please note the sentence in red ink, and praticularly the words in bold that are larger. It is very important that you understand that you need not just have a physical or mental impairment, that/those impairment(s) must substantially limit one or more major of life’s activities, and, furthermore, you must have documentation of that impairment ( and/or be regarded as having such an impairment, which basically means that the impairment and it’s limitations must be documented).

It is this information in red ink that made me realize the great truth about working and disability: I had to do the work myself to determine what my impairements were, and what activities they impacted; I had to become that Expert Patient who was also an Expert Disabled Worker! Here’s how the JAN describes a qualified individual with disabilities:

A qualified individual with a disability is a person who meets legitimate skill, experience, education, or other requirements of an employment position that s/he holds or seeks, and who can perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation. Requiring the ability to perform essential functions assures that an individual with a disability will not be considered unqualified simply because of inability to perform marginal or incidental job functions. If the individual is qualified to perform essential job functions except for limitations caused by a disability, the employer must consider whether the individual could perform these functions with a reasonable accommodation. If a written job description has been prepared in advance of advertising or interviewing applicants for a job, this will be considered as evidence, although not conclusive evidence, of the essential functions of the job.

Next step, get a copy of the Job Description for your job. The job description should detail what is called the Essential Duties (or Functions) of the Job. (Note: a copy of a Job Description that has such essential duties described, and the process of how to get one from your company’s Human Resource department can be found at the www.disabilitykey.com website in the Disabilitykey Workbook. This Workbook is an e-book of over 100 pages with How-To’s and lots of forms and examples. It can be purchased for a minimum cost.)

OK, you know your symptoms and their impacts upon you, and you have detailed them (once again, how to do this is covered in the Disabilitykey Workbook). Now you have to look at the Job Description for your own Job, and decide what you can and can’t do.

OK, this is really hard stuff to do. That’s where the JAN comes in that is so helpful! It has a link on the left hand column called Accommodation Toolbox. If you click on this box, it will take you to a page with a wealth of information. Scroll down about an 15% of the page and you will find a section entitled Accommodation Ideas. When you click on this section, you will find an index of illnesses/conditions, with some great information for you. You will need to understand accommodation ideas to

Here’s what the JAN has to say about Reasonable Accommodations, and about some accommodations applicants and employees may/can need.

Q. What is reasonable accommodation?

A. Reasonable accommodation is any modification or adjustment to a job or the work environment that will enable a qualified applicant or employee with a disability to participate in the application process or to perform essential job functions. Reasonable accommodation also includes adjustments to assure that a qualified individual with a disability has rights and privileges in employment equal to those of employees without disabilities.

Q. What are some of the accommodations applicants and employees may need?

A. Examples of reasonable accommodation include making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible to and usable by an individual with a disability; restructuring a job; modifying work schedules; acquiring or modifying equipment; providing qualified readers or interpreters; or appropriately modifying examinations, training, or other programs.

Reasonable accommodation also may include reassigning a current employee to a vacant position for which the individual is qualified, if the person is unable to do the original job because of a disability even with an accommodation. However, there is no obligation to find a position for an applicant who is not qualified for the position sought. Employers are not required to lower quality or quantity standards as an accommodation; nor are they obligated to provide personal use items such as glasses or hearing aids.

The decision as to the appropriate accommodation must be based on the particular facts of each case. In selecting the particular type of reasonable accommodation to provide, the principal test is that of effectiveness, i.e., whether the accommodation will provide an opportunity for a person with a disability to achieve the same level of performance and to enjoy benefits equal to those of an average, similarly situated person without a disability. However, the accommodation does not have to ensure equal results or provide exactly the same benefits.

So, I now know my symptoms and their impacts; I know about the ADA, and about something called reasonable accommocations. I have a copy of my Job Description, and am now trying to compare ME to the job’s Essential Duties.

About Disabilitykey.com & Carolyn Magura:

Disabilitykey.com is a website designed to assist each person in his/her own unique quest to navigate through the difficult and often conflicting and misleading information about coping with disabilities.

Carolyn Magura, noted disability / ADA expert, has written an e-Book documenting the process that allowed her to:

a) continue to work and receive her ?full salary? while on Long Term Disability; and

b) become the first person in her State to qualify for Social Security Disability the FIRST TIME, in UNDER 30 DAYS.

Click here to receive Carolyn ‘s easy-to-read, easy-to-follow direct guide through this difficult, trying process. If you are disabled, don’t let this disabiling process disable you. Read Carolyns Disability Key Blog.

In a previous article, we discussed the JAN ? the Job Accommodation Network, and just how valuable a resource that link is to those of us who are disabled, yet still working.

Alsoin that article, we left me as the VP-HR for an entire Ship Repair Yard. As you can probably imagine, my job description was very extensive. For example, consider the following.

* I was responsible for, and/or did all the work for Employee Relations; Labor Relations; compensation; benefits; Workers Compensation (averaging 300-400 incidents per year). We had a Training Center, on site that was my responsibility. I also personally handled all of the Employment litigation. This meant representing the Shipyard in court and other legal/labor proceedings.

* Each day was crammed full of meetings, crises, activities, etc.

* The job required extensive patience, experience, maturity, tact, expertise, and the ability to remain calm in the middle of multiple crises.

So, I received the conclusive diagnosis, and, probably like you, I thought I could still do my job. The day I knew that I had to cut back will remain always in my mind: I had a Craft Manager (Painters) and his Union Business Agent and Shop Steward in my office, very agitated; I had the Safety Director and an employee out in the hallway; I had the Executive VP for Production on my cell phone; and I had the Owner on my land line (phone).

All were talking (yelling) at me at once. Now, this was typical, but for the first time I froze; I could not multi-task effectively to provide the customer service to all of these clients in the manner that they deserved. My vision left (big black holes in my right eye; ?heat waves? in my left ? Optic Neuritis); my MS had reached the stage that I was too tired and too befuddled to effectively manage the work.

So, what was I to do? Now remember, even w-a-y back then I was an Expert Patient; a Chronic Disease Self-Manager; and practiced Patient-Oriented health care with my Doctors. It is probably not a surprise to you that I also was a very collaborative Executive with my fellow Ship Repair Yard Executives, including the Owner. I knew that he would work with me to come up with a plan to allow me to continue working to the full extent of my capabilities, but I NEEDED TO ACCEPT AND TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY for describing WHAT that looked like, HOW that would happen, WHO needed to do what, WHEN all steps needed to happen, and HOW to ensure that the process followed all relevant federal, state, local laws, company policy, vendor regulations, etc.

Sounds like a big job, doesn?t it? Well, looking back, it was. But, in the moment, at the time, I did what I recommend that you do as you begin the process. DO NOT think of the entire process; focus on the end result, always keep it in mind, but set up a plan, stick to the plan, and take things one step at a time. (Just the way one eats an elephant ? one bite at a time!)

AND, you get a big advantage over what I was facing! I?ve been there before you; I faced the problem, worked out the following process, and have been blessed with the ability to share it with you. Hopefully, you too will be successful with your own journey.

The Journey From Working Full Time to Working With a Disability.[1 (Note: this blog is only describing the steps in the process. For greater detail and copies of the documents in the process, they, and the actual examples I used, can be found at the www.disabilitykey.com website, in the Disabilitykey Workbook.)

Step #1: Know where you are going, and begin your journey in enough time to keep control over the process of getting there!

* Recognize that the end goal is to create a process that will be a ?win-win? for both you and your company. The goal for the company is to retain you, a valuable employee, and your knowledges, skills and abilities. Define this goal for yourself; do you want to go on LTD (long term disability); do you want to retain your income at a level amount; what do you want?

* Start this process early enough so that you retain control over your future, as I did. Do NOT wait until your supervisor comes to you and says that you have a problem ? you aren?t getting your work done, etc. At that time, you have already lost control, because your supervisor would have talked to your Human Resources Department, and they would have attempted to set up a plan for you. Now, not to sound too paranoid, but in my experience, most HR folks are woefully deficient in knowing what to do in these circumstances (yes, I know, another challenge for me to accept, and I do have plans to address this situation); and, any plan that they would/could come up with probably would not benefit you as well as the company.

* DO NOT TALK to your supervisor or to Human Resources until after you have developed your plan.

Step #2: Gather up all relevant documents.

* Collect all copies of your benefit Summary Plan Descriptions (SPD).

* Get a copy of your Company?s Employee Handbook.

* Get your Job Description. Also, go to your Human Resources department, and see if you can get copies of other job descriptions for jobs other than your own that you believe that you might be able to do, in spite of your condition?s symptom impairments.

* Access the JAN website and print out the information about your specific condition. Look particularly at the examples other companies have made as reasonable accommodations for employees with symptom impairments similar to yours. It is important to do some research here. Look at conditions similar to yours, and the symptom impairments for those conditions. Continue to research until you find just what matches YOUR specific situation.

Step #3: Specifically, set your goal.

* It is easier in the following steps to have an actual example to work with, so I will use my own. (NOTE: as you begin your process and have questions, remember that you can ask them as a comment to this blog and get not only my response, but those of thousands of your new best friends in your exact circumstances! And, as you ask questions and receive answers, you will also be helping others like yourself. So, y?all unshy people, ask and answer away!)

* MY SITUATION: 1) I decided that I still had something to offer to my company, in a lesser position; 2) I wanted to go on LTD yet still work; 3) I wanted to maintain my pay, if I could figure out how to do it; 4) I wanted to keep my health insurance and other benefits (like vacation and sick leave) benefits. THIS BECAME MY GOAL.

* MY RESULTS: As a result of using this process, I was successful in working through my LTD elimination period of 6 months (180 days) and 1 year on LTD for my own occupation for a year, at a lesser job, at full pay, while maintaining my health insurance and other company benefits.

Step #4: List the questions you need to answer in support of your goal, and answer them by researching your previously gathered documentation.

* I started with goal #2 first, because I needed to know what ?triggered? my LTD. It may not surprise you, but it REALLY surprised me that what triggered LTD eligibility wasn?t having a disabling disease/condition or accident, but a pay cut specifically caused by symptom impairment of that disease/condition or accident on my ability to perform the essential duties of my job! Once I knew this, it made sense, as LTD is an insurance policy; its purpose is to augment pay lost due a ?pay-impacting disability?! DUH! Now all I had to do is figure out just how much of a pay cut triggered the eligibility.

* In my case, it was a 20% pay cut. BUT, I also discovered that my LTD had a 180 day ?Elimination period? that I would need to fulfill before being eligible to receive any money from my LTD insurance. Also, since my LTD insurance paid 60% of my base pay, if I wanted my pay to continue at 100%, I needed to figure out how to get the 40% back while on LTD.

* As for goal #4, I read in my Employee Handbook that I had to keep working at least 32 hours per week to retain eligibility for my company?s health insurance plan.

* For goal #3, if I was only going to work for 32 hours, and going to 32 hours per week equated to a 20% pay cut! BUT, as I wanted to retain my pay, I had to figure out how to get income for the other 8 hours per week.

* So, if you are paying attention, I needed to work my own job for 180 days (six months) for 32 hours; I needed documentation that what caused me to take this action was my condition?s symptom impairments; I needed to figure out how to ?earn back? income for the additional 8 hours per week; and, I needed to figure out what job(s) I could go to after my LTD elimination period for 60% of my base pay paid by LTD insurance, and what I could do in partnership with my company that would pay me the additional 40% of my base pay to get it back up to 100%.

* First of all, it WAS NOT EASY AT ALL to literally wring information out of my LTD insurance Carrier! When I started asking them questions, their first reaction was why would I want to continue to work? No one ever had before, why should I? It took me about a month to go through enough folks to get the answers to my questions, but it should not be a shock to y?all that I prevailed. Here?s what I learned.

1. My specific LTD plan said that I could earn income during the elimination period, and for the first year of coverage, as long as the amount earned, added to the LTD amount, did NOT EXCEED the amount of my full pay prior to triggering LTD.

2. The 20% pay cut action that triggered my LTD was for actual ?work? pay; it did not cover sick and vacation pay. So, I worked it out with my company[2 that I was going to keep my current job and pay during the 180 day LTD elimination period. Each week I would get a check cut from payroll for 32 hours ?worked?. I then would get a check for 8 hours of sick and/or vacation pay. The 2 together kept my pay whole; the process complied with my LTD requirements, and met my stated goals. (As an aside, this is another reason why it is a good idea to keep a ?bank? of useable sick and vacation pay. Also, my timing was such that my 180 days covered 2 different calendar years, and our company had the policy of ?granting? all vacation time at the beginning of each calendar year. This was how I was able to use the 28 days of combination sick and vacation time to augment my work pay and keep my ?total? pay complete.)

3. At the end of the 180 day elimination period, I accepted another job that my company, my doctors, the LTD insurance company and I agreed that I could perform.[3 Again, keeping my end goals in mind, and knowing that my LTD insurance would pay me 60% of my base pay, and I wanted to continue to earn benefits, I negotiated a position that would allow me to work for 32 hours a week, in a contributing capacity, that paid 40% of my base pay. As you can probably see, this arrangement was GREAT for both me and for my company.

Well, folks, this had again been a long blog, but I hope that it will be helpful for you. GOOD LUCK!!!

[1 Note: This process does NOT cover working while on SSDI, nor does it cover going back to work FROM SSDI coverage. If there is interest in those processes, let me know and I?ll create them for you.

[2 Actually, I did an entire proposal for my Company after I did all of the research, and had all of the answers. It included my goals, what I had learned, the steps I needed to take, what Jobs I thought I could do, the entire kit and caboodle as my kids would say. Again, it is this ?Expert Patient?, being in control, doing the work ahead of time that got and keeps getting me results!

[3 Again, the process of working with your Doctors and completing what is called a Residual Functional Capacity analysis and all that this entails to first qualify for LTD, and, next, to qualify for a job you, your company, your doctors and the LTD company are OK with is covered in great detail in the Disabilitykey Workbook.

About Disabilitykey.com & Carolyn Magura:

Disabilitykey.com is a website designed to assist each person in his/her own unique quest to navigate through the difficult and often conflicting and misleading information about coping with disabilities.

Carolyn Magura, noted disability / ADA expert, has written an e-Book documenting the process that allowed her to:

a) continue to work and receive her ?full salary? while on Long Term Disability; and

b) become the first person in her State to qualify for Social Security Disability the FIRST TIME, in UNDER 30 DAYS.

Click here to receive Carolyn ‘s easy-to-read, easy-to-follow direct guide through this difficult, trying process. If you are disabled, don’t let this disabiling process disable you. Read Carolyns Disability Key Blog.

The process of applying for and getting Social Security Disability is very long and convoluted; hopefully, this article will shed some light on the things one can do to smooth out the process and what to expect along the way.

Once you have become disabled, do two things immediately,

Consult a competent disability attorney.

Start the application process with the Social Security Administration. This link will take you directly to the Social Security website where you can find out more about applying online and the guidelines for disability.

Once you have started the process, the SSA will do two things, they will send you paperwork to be filled out and signed so that they may obtain medical records. It would be helpful here if you compiled a list of every doctor, hospital, clinic etc you have been to in the past 2 years. The more accurate information you can give them at this step the better it will be when they request the records for review later in the process.

Secondly, they will schedule a phone interview with you to ask some general questions about your working years, family etc. They will be able to tell you at this stage approximately how much disability you could receive each month if approved and also in you qualify for Social Security Supplemental Income. The amount you may receive depends on factors such as family size, years worked, overall wages etc.

The SSA will also send paperwork to be completed that concerns your disability directly and how it affects your everyday life. They ask numerous questions concerning ability to work, mobility, daily living, personal care etc. Answer them in as much specific detail as possible because this is one of the main documents that the examiners will review when deciding your case, so the more that you can tell them about how it affects your life the better. Your attorney can guide you in completing this paperwork.

Once all the paperwork is completed it will be sent, in most states, to the state disability determination bureau. The SAA has contracts with most states so that the state examiners review the first step of the application process for the SSA.

This review can take as much as 6 – 9 months. There is really nothing you can do at this stage other than gather any new medical records you may have and keep in contact with your attorney as he may advise you to make regular visits to your physician so that current documentation of your disability will be available for the second stage of the process.

I should point out one thing here, over 85% of all disability applicants fail at this stage, so do not get discouraged when you are not approved. It would be much better going into this stage expecting not to be approved. The SSA does this to weed out those who really do not qualify for disability or even need it. The SSAs theory is, if the applicant is really disabled, they will be persistent and continue the process.

The second stage of the process is where a good disability attorney will be of great help.

This stage is called the reconsideration stage. Your attorney will file an appeal with the SSA requesting a reconsideration of your case based on certain facts. This is where the new medical documentation can be submitted to help your case. This stage generally takes about 3 months for the reconsideration.

The sad fact is you are just as likely to get turned down at this stage as you were at the first stage.

Once you have received the reconsideration denial from the SSA, consult with your attorney about the third stage of the process, the Administrative Hearing.

This process is by far the longest of the three, but the good news is that more than 85% of the cases get approved at this stage. So hang in there!!

Your attorney will file the paperwork with the SSA requesting an Administrative Hearing before the Administrative Law Judge.

Once the SSA receives your request, it can be anywhere from 9 months to 12 months before getting the actual hearing. This depends upon which state you live in and how many Administrative Law Judges hear the cases.

I know in my particular case, in Indiana, they have 3 judges that hear the cases for Indiana and some of the surrounding states so it can take many, many months to get to the actual hearing.

Once the hearing is scheduled, the SSA will send you and your attorney a notice of hearing, 20 days prior to the date of the hearing. Your attorney will then consult with you on how the hearings work, what questions the judges may ask, what questions he/she may ask you etc.

The hearing can be a scary thing, but your attorney will guide you and the judges understand your feelings so just answer all questions to the best of your ability.

Once your case has been approved, the Administrative Law Judge can issue a ruling for immediate payments. You will receive a lump sum payment from the SSA that covers from the sixth month after you first applied to the current month, the SSA has a 6 month waiting period before disability payments can begin even in the cases that get approved in the first stage.

After the lump sum payment you will receive monthly checks.

As you can see, the process for getting SSA disability is indeed long and tedious, but having a good attorney and being prepared for each stage can go along way in smoothing out the process an easing your fears.

This article is just an outline of the process of applying and the pitfalls one may encounter along the way, but hopefully one can gain some insight into the process an know what to expect.

More articles at www.articles-host.com