“Your CEO is not going to know how to spell ‘disability’ until the company is hit with a million-dollar lawsuit,” joked Robert Sniderman, president of HRFocus USA, during his Monday's session at SHRM’s 2009 Conference & Expo in New Orleans.
Drafting disability management strategies can become tricky business for employers because the process involves creating a course of action that limits liability and lawsuits, while also creating a workplace that values workers with disabilities.
Employers have to make disability management a top corporate concern, which means training senior executives about disability issues within the workplace, explained Sniderman, whose California-based firm specializes in HR management advice.
Take for example, among working-age adults between age 21-64 in the United States during 2006, 21.9% had at least one disability, Sniderman noted. In 2007 and 2008, a significant number of the court opinions involved disability in the workplace issues directly or indirectly.
He believes that the uptick in litigation suggests more awareness of disability rights in the workplace and a willingness on the part of employees to exercise those rights at the expense of the employer.
The ultimate solution for employers will entail implementing solid disability management polices and procedures that will allow the company and employees to fully comply with all leave requirements, related to workers out on disability.
“A good return-to-work system will automatically protect you legally about 95% of the time if you align the system with state and federal disability laws,” Sniderman explained. “Yet, you also have to create a strategy of return to work that is supported by leadership and champion that strategy by becoming informed and promoting it within the leadership suite and down through the ranks of the organization.”
Sniderman urged attendees “to write and embrace a comprehensive return-to-work program and carry it out. Claims when litigated are extremely expensive and difficult to defend without clear policies and procedures.”
In some return-to-work cases, managers may feel the need to review the worker’s medical information, but Sniderman said such a move may color the manager’s outlook on the return-to-work process. Therefore, “it’s probably a good idea to focus only on the disability information explaining what the worker’s limitations are,” he noted. Do not use doctors, however, to make employment decisions.
Related coverage:
Dispatch from SHRM '09: Despite reduced benefits, workers remain loyal
Dispatch from SHRM '09: Are you prepared to be worse than a lawyer?
Dispatch from SHRM '09: The success of your wellness program is tied to cigarette advertising
