I found website for employers, and it addresses your specific questions
http://askjan.org/Erguide/Three.htm#D3Short answer, no under the ADA, the employer doesn't have to give you part time hours. If they do, they don't have to keep your full time benefits. Also there is the nasty phrase "undue hardship", which is enough weasel room not to have to do anything.
Do you need actual full days off or maybe one hour less to keep your sanity? If it's something like hour less, there is the argument below for that.
The site is a good read about ADA law. Here's the section below that you asked about.
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a. Do employers have to change full-time jobs to part-time as an accommodation under the ADA?
Although part-time work is a form of reasonable accommodation, employers probably do not have to change existing full-time jobs to part-time as an accommodation under the ADA. According to informal guidance from the EEOC, when an employee is asking to cut his/her hours in significantly, then, in essence, the employee is asking for a reassignment to an existing part-time job. The precise legal rationale will be debated in courts for awhile, but any way you look at it you fundamentally change a job when you significantly cut the hours (e.g., in half). One argument is that cutting a job in half necessarily entails cutting essential functions if "essential function" embodies the amount of work to be accomplished. You could also say that you would be cutting the production standard, which is not simply an hourly standard, but also a standard that measures how much should be produced in a full-day.
Another legal argument is to say that significantly reducing the hours of a job would be changing a qualification standard of the job; specifically, the ability to work full-time. The employer should always be able to show that it created a full-time position because there is sufficient work that requires working full-time. As such, the qualification to work full-time meets the business necessity standard, and thus it is not a reasonable accommodation to cut the hours in half.
That is why a request for part-time work by an employee often ends up really being a request for a reassignment to an existing part-time job. If there is only a minimal cut in hours, it might be possible to show that the essential functions, the productivity standard, and/or a qualification standard of the position will not be changed, despite the slight decrease in hours. In this case, an employer might need to eliminate marginal functions to permit the employee to complete all the essential functions.
b. If an employer chooses to change a full-time job to part-time, does the employer have to maintain the employee's full-time pay and benefits?
No, not under the ADA unless the employer maintains pay and benefits for employees without disabilities whose jobs change from full-time to part-time. Employers should consider whether other laws apply, such as wage and hour laws.
c. How much leave time must an employer provide as an accommodation under the ADA?
Unlike the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which requires covered employers to provide up to 12 weeks of leave, there is no specific amount of leave time required under the ADA. Instead, leave time is approached like any other accommodation request: the employer must provide the amount of leave needed by the employee unless doing so poses an undue hardship.
For additional information regarding the interplay between the ADA and the FMLA, visit FMLA, ADA, and Title VII (EEOC Guidance) at http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/fmlaada.html.
Thank you for posting this. It explains things really well.
03 Apr 2014, 6:10 pm
