ADA – Accommodations & Appeals for Employees

All employee requests for individual disability accommodation(s) are made under the appropriate employee disability accommodation policy. If an employee’s employment category is not covered under one of the policies they can make their request to the Employee Disability Resources (EDR) office in the Division of Diversity, Equity and Educational Achievement DDEEA) who will determine the process.

Those policies currently in place include:

1. Faculty Reasonable Accommodation Policy and Procedures
2. Academic Staff Disability Accommodation Policy
3. University Staff Disability Accommodation Policy

Employees can consult the EDR office at any time with questions about making accommodation requests.

Faculty

1. If an individual faculty member disagrees with a reasonable accommodation request decision, the faculty member may appeal by filing with the UW-Madison ADA Coordinator as provided for in the Faculty Reasonable Accommodation Policy and Procedures at Section IV.
2. A faculty member who has a complaint of disability discrimination, unrelated to a request for an accommodation, may, as appropriate, (i) pursue a grievance under FPP 8.15, or (ii) pursue a discrimination complaint with the Office of Compliance Equal Opportunity Complaint Investigator.

Academic Staff

1. If an academic staff member disagrees with a reasonable accommodation request decision, the academic staff member may file an appeal with the ADA Coordinator as provided for in the UW-Madison Academic Staff Disability Accommodation Policy at Section VII.
2. An academic staff member who has a complaint of disability discrimination, unrelated to a request for an accommodation, may, as appropriate, (i) pursue a grievance under Academic Staff Policies and Procedures (ASPP) Chapter 7, or (ii) pursue a discrimination complaint with the Office of Compliance Equal Opportunity Complaint Investigator.

University Staff

1. If a university staff member disagrees with a reasonable accommodation request decision, the university staff member may file an appeal with the ADA Coordinator as provided for in the UW-Madison University Staff Disability Accommodation Policy  at Section VII.
2. A university staff employee who has a complaint of disability discrimination, unrelated to a request for an accommodation, may, as appropriate, (i) pursue a grievance under the university staff grievance procedure (HR Policy 17.01) or (ii) pursue a discrimination complaint with the Office of Compliance Equal Opportunity Complaint Investigator.

Other Employees (i.e., Limited Appointees, Temporary Employees)

Individuals not included in any of the above classifications or covered by the above described appeal or grievance policies or processes should contact the ADA Coordinator in the Office of Compliance. The ADA Coordinator will determine whether to refer an individual to one of the existing processes for handling appeals regarding an individual’s request for an accommodation, or refer the individual to the Office of Compliance Equal Opportunity Complaint Investigator.

The right of a person to a prompt and equitable resolution of the complaint filed hereunder shall not be impaired by the person’s pursuit of other remedies, such as the filing of an ADA complaint with the responsible federal department or agency. Use of this grievance procedure is not a prerequisite to the pursuit of other remedies.

These rules shall be construed to protect the substantive rights of interested persons to meet appropriate due process standards and to assure that UW-Madison complies with the ADA and implementing regulations.

Faculty

Applicants for faculty positions may make requests for individual disability accommodations under the UW-Madison Faculty Reasonable Accommodation Policies and Procedures (Section II).

Academic Staff or University Staff

Applicants for academic staff or university staff positions may make requests for individual disability accommodations under the UW-Madison Academic Staff Disability Accommodation Policy (Section III.A.), or the UW-Madison University Staff Disability Accommodation Policy (Section III.A.), respectively.

Applicants who disagree with the reasonable accommodation request decision or otherwise believe they were discriminated against on the basis of disability in the application process may file a complaint with the appropriate external agency (i.e., Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, Equal Rights Division; Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission).

Copies of the various policies, procedures and other documents mentioned above are available from one or more of the following: UW-Madison Office of Human Resources, Office for Equity and Diversity, Secretary of the Faculty, Secretary of the Academic Staff, Secretary of the University Staff, the Divisional Disability Representative (DDR) and the ADA Coordinator.