Specific provisions for the state of Kansas.
Employers must make reasonable accommodation to known physical and mental limitations of otherwise qualified applicants or employees. Examples of reasonable accommodation include modifications or adjustments to job application processes that enable qualified applicants with disabilities to be considered, as well as job restructuring, reassignment, modification to the work environment or circumstances that enable qualified employees to perform the essential functions of their jobs or enjoy the same benefits and privileges of employment as employees without disabilities. When interviewing applicants with disabilities, for example, employers might have to provide interpreters if applicants are hearing-impaired or conduct interviews in rooms accessible to applicants using wheelchairs. When conducting employment tests, employers might have to offer tests in Braille or allow the use of readers for applicants or employees who are blind.
Employers aren’t required to make any accommodation that would create undue hardship because it is unduly expensive or requires extensive physical or structural modifications to the workplace or that would fundamentally change business operations.
Under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), employers, including state and local governments, with 15 or more employees, are prohibited from discriminating against people with disabilities. Title I protects qualified individuals with disabilities in several areas, including job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation and job training. It is also unlawful to retaliate against someone for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on disability, or for filing an ADA discrimination charge. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) shares enforcement authority for Title I of the ADA with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which has primary responsibility for enforcing the employment provisions of the law. (Note: Federal employees and job applicants are covered by Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 instead of the ADA.
