Date of Issue: October, 1999

Revised: August 16, 2007

Purpose

To establish a policy to ensure compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act and the Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance which prohibits employment discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities. These laws require covered employers to make reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities to enable them to perform the essential functions of their jobs unless it will impose an undue hardship.

Accountability

Under the direction of the President, the Director of Diversity & Equity shall ensure compliance with this policy. The Director of Diversity & Equity in conjunction with the Vice Presidents and Deans, and all other staff in a supervisory capacity, shall implement this policy.

Definitions

1. Disability - having a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, such as walking, seeing, hearing, etc., or having a record of such an impairment; or being regarded as having such as impairment. Impairment is any physiological disorder, condition, cosmetic disfigurement, or anatomical loss affecting one or more body systems, or any mental or psychological disorder.

2. Reasonable accommodation - Modifications or adjustments to the job, the work environment, or the way things are usually done to enable a qualified individual with a disability to enjoy equal employment opportunity.

3. Essential functions of the job - A specific performance requirement of a position is considered to be essential function of the job if: (1) the job exists to perform that function; (2) there are only a limited number of employees available who can perform that function; or (3) the position is a highly specialized function requiring special expertise and experience.

Policy

It is the policy of the Community College of Philadelphia to provide equal employment opportunity for all qualified individuals, including those with disabilities. The College will provide reasonable accommodations to enable such qualified individuals to perform the essential functions of their jobs provided that the accommodations do not impose an undue hardship to the College.

Procedure

All employment decisions will be based on job-related criteria without regard to a qualified individual's physical or mental disabilities. If an individual's disability affects his or her ability to perform the essential functions of the job, the supervisor, in conjunction with the Director of Diversity & Equity is responsible for considering whether a reasonable accommodation exists to solve the problem.

The individual with the disability is responsible for requesting an accommodation from his or her supervisor. After a request by a qualified individual has been made, the supervisor is responsible for taking the following steps:

• identifying the essential functions of the job based on the job description;

• consulting with the individual who requested the accommodation to identify which duties are affected by the individual's disability and what accommodations could enable the individual to perform those duties;

• conferring with the Office of Diversity & Equity and/or Human Resources Office to evaluate the reasonableness of the requested accommodations and/or to identify alternate accommodations; and

• implementing those accommodations that are in the best interests of the individual and the College.

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