Montgomery County Community College

Human Resources

Board of Trustees Policy

Purpose

This policy affirms and describes the College’s commitment to the principles of equal employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities and sets forth the actions to be taken by the College and its employees concerning employment opportunities for qualified individuals with disabilities.

Policy

General Policy of the College

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as amended in 2008, effective January 1, 2009, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (the Rehab Act), as well as Pennsylvania law; prohibit discrimination against individuals with disabilities because of their disabilities. The College will not discriminate against individuals with disabilities.

Specific Policy

Employment

1. The College will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of a known disability in regard to any position for which the employee or applicant is qualified. Hiring practices and job placement will be commensurate with ability to perform assigned work. Employees with disabilities will receive the same regular compensation as those with no disabilities for like work.
2. The College, to ensure its commitment to equal employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities, will take positive steps to employ, advance in employment, and otherwise treat known qualified individuals with disabilities without discrimination based upon their disability in all employment practices, including but not limited to the following: application, testing, hiring, work assignments, evaluation, promotion, transfer, disciplinary actions, recruitment or recruitment advertising, layoff/recall, termination or demotion, rates of pay or other forms of compensation.
3. The College will provide, upon request, reasonable accommodation to known employees with qualified disabilities, if that is needed to enable them to perform the essential functions of their job and provided that it does not pose an undue hardship. Montgomery County Community College is not required to lower quality or quantity standards to make an accommodation. Employees may request such accommodation by contacting their immediate supervisor, the Executive Director of Human Resources, the Director of Equity and Diversity Initiatives, or the College Nurse.

Definitions

Disability: A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of having such impairment, or being regarded as having one even if the person does not actually have the condition. ¹

Such an impairment may be episodic or in remission as long as it would still substantially limit a major life activity when active. Such an impairment may have applicable mitigating measures that may or be not be employed by the individual in question, without being removed from the definition of disability.

The definition of disability should be interpreted broadly except that those who are merely "regarded as" having a disability, without in fact have an actual disability or a record of such physical or mental impairment as defined herein, are not entitled to reasonable accommodation. However, those who are merely "regarded as" having a disability and receive discriminatory treatment as a result, e.g., failure to hire, will meet the definition of a disability, unless the "regarded as" condition is transitory and minor.

Qualified Individual with a Disability: A person with a disability who meets the skill, experience, education, and other job-related requirements and who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the job.

Major Life Activities: Activities that an average person can perform with little or no difficulty. (Examples: caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, sitting, reaching, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, interacting with others, and working.)

Major life activities include the operation of major bodily functions, including functions of the immune system, special sense organs and skin, normal cell growth, digestive, genitourinary, bowel, bladder, neurological, brain, respiratory, circulatory, cardiovascular, endocrine, hemic, lymphatic, musculoskeletal, and reproductive functions as well as the operation of an individual organ within a body system (e.g., the operation of the kidney, liver, or pancreas).

The above examples of major life activities that a person or a person’s body can perform with little or no difficulty is not meant to be exhaustive.

Reasonable Accommodations: An accommodation is any change in the work environment or in the way things are usually done which results in equal employment opportunity for all individuals with a disability. Montgomery County Community College will make reasonable accommodations to the known physical or mental limitations of a qualified employee with a disability, unless the accommodation would cause an undue hardship on the institution. Montgomery County Community College is not required to lower quality or quantity standards to make an accommodation.