cooperative dialogue Archives - Levy Employment Law

I have been thinking a lot about managing physical and mental impairments recently. Not the permanent ones, but the ones that may come on suddenly and impede what we consider to be our “normal” functioning ability. The subject is on my mind for two reasons. First, because in the past few years we have heard of so many more instances of workers facing mental health or substance abuse issues, or newly diagnosed as adults with conditions like ADHD for which they are being prescribed medications or other treatment. Second, because I have been facing down my own physical and mental health issue – a chronic medical condition that at its most severe can produce hours-long, paralyzing vertigo attacks and hearing loss.

In my case, prior to the pandemic I thought I had my condition largely under control through a combination of diet and medication. Then I took the weight of the world on my shoulders as we heard the progressively more bleak stories of the impact of COVID-19, my vertigo attacks returned, and they became more frequent, less predictable and more debilitating. I lost 50 percent of my hearing in one ear, and the status quo clearly was not sustainable. I took the rare step of opting for surgery five weeks ago, a minor surgery with great odds of stopping the vertigo attacks (and thereby stemming the hearing loss).

I had anticipated a weekend for my recovery from surgery, and allowed a cushion of two additional days when I was scheduled to be out for religious observance. I had a roster of ongoing matters and deliverables, but no worries about working through all of them immediately following the holiday. I didn’t even set an out-of-office message, figuring I could return any necessary calls or emails as soon as the anesthesia wore off.

The surgery went as planned. The recovery did not. My weekend was spent sedated in the hospital, trying to make the world stop spinning. I rested at home over the holiday and then tried to resume my work in short intervals, from my recovery bed. My colleagues covered for me on some matters, and some I pushed off or worked through at less than my regular pace. I built in downtime between my meetings so I could just rest, give my eyes a break, and regain my strength for my next meeting or project. I had a running list of all my deliverables and gradually made my way through completing them.

By week four, the list had been reduced to just a few ongoing matters. But while I had seen gradual, albeit painfully slow, improvement in my first three weeks, I began to backslide. I was stretching out six hours of productive work over a 10 to 12 hour daily window, and by 8 pm, a milder version of the old vertigo was returning, leaving me helpless to do anything for 45 minute intervals and so exhausted thereafter that I had to call it quits for the night. By the weekend, the vertigo was back with a major roar, sudden, fierce and completely debilitating attacks that had me violently ill and confined to my bed. Clearly something had to change.

This past Monday, I confronted my own situation. I called out the areas in which I was not delivering at my expected level – the blog articles I had not even brought myself to start writing, the training materials I had only half-developed, the investigation I’d had to decline taking on for a new client and the one that was in danger of stalling – and I took some sage advice from a respected teacher. I put myself on medical leave (you can do that when you own the business). I emailed clients to request to push out some deadlines, I set out-of-office messages on my phone and email, I went for a walk outside, and then I went to bed. I saw my doctor the next day, who has put me on a new medication that is so far keeping the vertigo away. I am continuing to walk outside each day, I am accepting the care of my family and friends, and until now I had almost entirely retired my laptop and work emails.

And it is working. I feel slowed by the medication, but freed of the oppressive weight of the vertigo I was perpetually fighting off. I am not entirely steady on my feet, but my walks on flat terrain help to clear my head. And ideas and inspiration to write, the lifeblood of my professional existence, are flowing once again.

Perhaps this is too much disclosure of personal information. Perhaps I have spent just a few too many hours listening to Moth hour story podcasts on National Public Radio this past month when the vertigo left me unable to absorb any form of visual engagement. But I share all this because, while I hope my particular ordeal is unique, I am afraid that the themes of wanting to continue to deliver at work, not wanting to admit the scope of the problem, not wanting to accept too much help, and not giving in to “defeat” are more universal and more prevalent in our workplaces than we may recognize.

For those of you in circumstances like mine, I see you and I empathize. But I also want to educate because going it alone is not your only option. If you are suffering from a serious medical condition, it may qualify as a “disability” under federal law and even more likely so under the law in states like New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and others. What that means is that you are entitled to help to enable you to perform the essential functions of your job. In New York City they call it a “cooperative dialogue” process and I like the friendliness of that phrasing.

You will likely be asked for documentation from your health care provider, but most employers I work with genuinely want to help and support you. Certainly the work needs to get done, but particularly if yours is just a short-term debilitating condition, and particularly if you are part of a larger organization, it may be possible to temporarily shift certain projects or responsibilities to colleagues who can help cover. Sometimes deadlines are more aspirational than essential, and they can be shifted for compelling circumstances. And sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself and everyone around you is to just step away for a little bit, take a leave of absence and allow your body and mind the time and space to heal.

Marvel characters aside, none of us are superheroes. All of us, at some point, face circumstances usually not of our choosing that interfere with the career trajectory, performance standards and aspirations that we set for ourselves. If you are like me, the hardest step in that situation is recognizing our own limitations – to ourselves, and to those we work with. But health issues do not typically resolve themselves just by pretending they do not exist, and the caliber of work we can deliver under trying circumstances often does not meet our own lofty standards. Make the call, and if you need it, ask for the help.

By Tracey I. Levy

By Tracey I. Levy and Alex Lapes

Recent updates to technical assistance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and guidance from the New York City Commission on Human Rights (Commission) reflect the continuously evolving expectations with regard to vaccine mandates and adherence to accommodation requirements under equal employment opportunity laws, and also highlight some differences in approach that New York City employers cannot overlook. The challenge for employers is that, while they are permitted (and in some cases required) to mandate that all employees who physically enter the workplace be vaccinated against COVID-19, when enforcing that mandate, they need to provide reasonable accommodations to employees who object to a vaccination requirement due to:

disability;
pregnancy (either in its own right under New York law or for pregnancy-related conditions that constitute a disability under federal law); or
a sincerely held religious belief, practice, or observance.

The EEOC has updated its technical assistance Q&A’s on COVID-19 and EEO laws three separate times in the past month (October 13, 25, and 28, 2021), particularly Section K and new Section L, to address various issues that may arise when employers navigate vaccine-related accommodation requests. Piggybacking on the EEOC’s guidance, on November 1, 2021, the Commission updated its COVID-19 resources to adopt some, but not all, of the EEOC’s stance on the subject of accommodations.

Divergence on What Triggers Consideration of a Reasonable Accommodation

EEOC guidance clarifies that an employee or a third party (i.e. employee’s healthcare provider) must notify the employer of the need for a reasonable accommodation because of a qualifying reason. Under federal law, accommodation requests based on medical conditions (or underlying conditions) or religious beliefs or practices do not require the employer to initiate that process and, absent notice from the employee about such a request, employers have no obligation to inquire or take action, even if an employer knows an employee is at higher risk for severe illness if the employee contracts COVID-19.

Conversely, the Commission has stated that, under the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL), employers are required to initiate the conversation and to engage in a “cooperative dialogue” with an employee when the employer knows or has reason to know that the employee may require a reasonable accommodation. For example, a New York City employer who knows that an employee has a medical condition that might place the employee at “higher risk for severe illness” if the employee contracts COVID-19 is required under city law to engage with the employee in a cooperative dialogue about a potential accommodation, even without the employee requesting one. In order to satisfy this obligation, the Commission recommends New York City employers remind all staff of the employer’s policies regarding reasonable accommodations and the process for requesting those accommodations.

Disability Considerations

The EEOC and the Commission are consistent on their guidance that simply asking for information to confirm whether an employee is vaccinated against COVID-19 is permissible and is not a disability-related inquiry. However, employers who require employees to provide medical documentation on vaccine status must ensure that, as with all medical information, it is kept confidential and separate from other personnel files.

Pregnancy Considerations

Under federal law, unless an employee has a pregnancy-related condition that qualifies as a disability, the EEOC has explained that employers are encouraged but not required to explore reasonable accommodations for a pregnant employee. The EEOC further noted that employers must ensure pregnant employees receive the same job modifications (including changes to work schedules, telework, or changes to work schedules or assignments) in response to their pregnancy-related accommodation requests as would other employees who are similar in their ability or inability to work.

The Commission goes one step beyond the EEOC, and affirmatively requires employers to engage in a cooperative dialogue and explore possible accommodations for a pregnant employee who requests an exemption from a vaccination mandate.

Religious Objection to Vaccination

Most of the new EEOC guidance pertains to religious objections to an employer’s vaccine mandate, and in that context the NYC Commission has explicitly adopted the following provisions from the EEOC’s guidance:

Employees and applicants must inform their employer if they seek exemption from a vaccine mandate based on a sincerely held religious belief, practice, or observance. While there are no “magic words”, the employee or applicant has an obligation to notify the employer if there is a conflict between their religious beliefs and the employer’s vaccine mandate.
Employers are permitted to ask the employee to explain how the employee’s religious beliefs conflict with the employer’s vaccine mandate. Employers have no obligation to accommodate employees who seek exceptions to a COVID-19 vaccination requirement based on social, political, or economic views, or personal preferences. Therefore, the EEOC has stated, and the Commission has agreed, employers are permitted to make a limited factual inquiry and seek additional information from the employee, if they have an objective basis to question the sincerity of a particular belief. Factors to be considered in evaluating the credibility of an employee’s sincerity as to a religious belief include prior inconsistent conduct (with the caveat that employees need not be scrupulous in their religious observance), whether the accommodation benefit would likely be sought for nonreligious reasons, whether the timing of the request makes it suspect, and whether the employer has other reason to believe the accommodation is not for religious reasons.
Significantly, though, when weighing these factors, employers also need to be mindful that the definition of religion is broad and protects both the major organized religions and “religious beliefs that are new, uncommon, not part of a formal church or sect, only subscribed to by a small number of people, or that seem illogical or unreasonable to others.” The EEOC’s own religious accommodation request form, which it offers as an example of an appropriate scope of inquiry, is very limited in its probing of an individual’s religious beliefs.
Employers do not need to grant the requests of all employees who seek an accommodation based on religion. Employers are permitted to take into account the cumulative cost or burden of granting accommodations to other employees and should evaluate religious objections on a case-by-case basis depending on the specific factual circumstances of the employer’s business. As with all accommodations, if more than one accommodation would effectively eliminate the religious conflict, then the employer may choose which accommodation to offer. An employer may also discontinue a previously granted accommodation based on changed circumstances, although the EEOC suggests as a best practice that employers discuss and evaluate alternative accommodations with the employee before discontinuing a religious accommodation.

The Commission has further expressed its agreement with the EEOC’s guidance that employers need not accommodate an employee’s belief if the employer demonstrates “undue hardship” on its operations. In practice, however, the EEOC and the Commission define undue hardship in this context quite differently. A minimal cost to accommodate an employee’s religious belief is an undue hardship under Title VII and employers may consider direct monetary costs as well as the burden on the employer to prevent the risk of the spread of COVID-19 to other employees or the public. The EEOC’s guidance notes an employer may consider whether the employee works alone or with others, their contact with the public, and especially their contact with vulnerable individuals.

In contrast, the NYCHRL defines undue hardship as “an accommodation requiring significant expense or difficulty (including a significant interference with the safe or efficient operation of the workplace or violation of a bona fide seniority system).” New York City employers should consider such factors as the identifiable cost of the accommodation, how many individuals will need the accommodation based on religion, and for employers with multiple facilities, the degree to which geographic separateness or administrative or fiscal relationship will make the accommodation more or less difficult. Notably, under the NYCHRL, a religious accommodation will only be deemed an undue hardship “if it will result in the inability of an employee who is seeking a religious accommodation to perform the essential functions of the position.”

Takeaways

Employers in New York need to be ever mindful that compliance with federal requirements and guidance from the EEOC, OSHA, the CDC and other federal government agencies merely sets the floor in terms of legal standards. New York State and New York City can and have been imposing additional obligations on employers and granting greater protections for employees in the context of addressing COVID-19. New York City employers who mandate vaccinations need to ensure their policies and procedures allow employees to request an exemption from that requirement as a reasonable accommodation and entertain that request in a manner that does not discriminate or treat differently any employees based on protected characteristics.

Tag: cooperative dialogue

Sometimes We All Need a Little Help – and a Cooperative Dialogue with our Employer to Get Us There

NYCCHR/EEOC Diverge on Accommodations to Vaccine Mandates