imported_Negative3
Member
I work for the federal government as does a friend of mine. This friend of mine was diagnosed with epilepsy when he was about 10 years old and has been taking prescribed medication for it since then. The disease has not affected him since around 1997 (meaning he has not had an epileptic seizure) and it does not affect his job performance in the least bit.
We both work the midnight shift (11:30pm - 7:30am) and we both go to college while doing so. I go part time (7 hours) and he goes full-time (15 hours). Ever since the fall semester has begun he has been complaining about his lack of sleep due to this shift and the time in which his classes are scheduled. Since all of his classes are 300, 400 level classes he cannot simply adjust his schedule because most if not all the classes are only offered once. He usually gets between 4-5 maybe 6 hours of sleep a day but it isn't all at once. Typically it is in 2-3 hour blocks twice a day. Recently, a swing shift position (3:30pm - 11:30pm) has become available to anyone who cares to apply for it. He and he alone has applied for it and was turned down because a relative is a supervisor on that shift and they claim it is against their policy for relatives to work together on the same shift when one is a supervisor and the other a subordinate.
This shift would be perfect for him as it would allow him it get a full night's sleep every single night. Now, anyone who knows anything about epilepsy knows that lack of (quality) rest can increase the risk of a seizure even for someone who has been medicated for a long time.
Here is the question I have. Should they, the employer, be obligated to grant this shift change regardless if it is against their policy due to the fact that is a reasonable accommodation for someone with a disability? It does not cause undue hardship on the employer and it does not limit the other employees' ability to perform their job. We have been reading this web site to get more detailed information on the regulation:
http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/accommodation.html
I believe he is going to request this within the next week. Personally, I do not see a problem with it but that's just me. Does anyone else have a take on this?
We both work the midnight shift (11:30pm - 7:30am) and we both go to college while doing so. I go part time (7 hours) and he goes full-time (15 hours). Ever since the fall semester has begun he has been complaining about his lack of sleep due to this shift and the time in which his classes are scheduled. Since all of his classes are 300, 400 level classes he cannot simply adjust his schedule because most if not all the classes are only offered once. He usually gets between 4-5 maybe 6 hours of sleep a day but it isn't all at once. Typically it is in 2-3 hour blocks twice a day. Recently, a swing shift position (3:30pm - 11:30pm) has become available to anyone who cares to apply for it. He and he alone has applied for it and was turned down because a relative is a supervisor on that shift and they claim it is against their policy for relatives to work together on the same shift when one is a supervisor and the other a subordinate.
This shift would be perfect for him as it would allow him it get a full night's sleep every single night. Now, anyone who knows anything about epilepsy knows that lack of (quality) rest can increase the risk of a seizure even for someone who has been medicated for a long time.
Here is the question I have. Should they, the employer, be obligated to grant this shift change regardless if it is against their policy due to the fact that is a reasonable accommodation for someone with a disability? It does not cause undue hardship on the employer and it does not limit the other employees' ability to perform their job. We have been reading this web site to get more detailed information on the regulation:
http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/accommodation.html
I believe he is going to request this within the next week. Personally, I do not see a problem with it but that's just me. Does anyone else have a take on this?
