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Our employer refused to allow several employees to use the elevator during a fire drill, citing that "we require your name to be on a disabiled personel list" Is this even legal? What if a person was fine on Monday, sprained an ankle on Tues and Wed they did a fire drill, under our employer rules you would be required to walk down 10 flights of stairs
Optional Information: Country relating to Question: United States
Thank you for your question today, I look forward to assisting you. I bring nearly 20 years of legal experience in various disciplines.If a person is not legally disabled under the law, the employer has no obligation to provide any reasonable accommodations to their injuries. While it would be wise, it is not legally required.So, the employer could require every person that is not disabled to utilize the stairs during a fire drill.
I am legally disabled *back injury* and qualify under state law for disability. but because i do not use a cane all the time was told that the elevator was only for "people who cant walk, or use a wheelchair".
I see that you have negatively rated my answer. I can understand wanting more information, but that is done through REPLY rather than through negative ratings.Your follow up questions are based on facts that you did not include in your original question, so I did not address them. You, instead, mentioned people with injuries and that is an entirely different matter.You can request a reasonable accommodation under the ADA for this issue, but you have to understand that the employer is legally permitted to take the risk and say "no, we don't think that you need that accommodation." Your employer has obviously done that here.It is a risk, because you would then have the legal right to file a complaint with the EEOC alleging disability discrimination. You can't invalidate the entire rule, but you can deal with your own individual issue with the rule. The EEOC can investigate and determine whether or not the employer's refusal is reasonable.
Experience: Employment/Labor Law Litigation