Specific provisions for the state of West Virginia.
[Note: Effective January 18, 2022, this summary is affected by 2021 W. Va. HB 335, as reported in the State L&E Developments Tracker.]
When an applicant or employee requests accommodation of a disability, employers must make adjustments or modifications on a case-by-case basis that enable the applicant or employee to be hired or remain in the position for which he or she was hired. Examples of reasonable accommodations include making existing facilities usable by employees with disabilities, restructuring jobs, creating part-time or modified work schedules, reassigning employees to vacant positions, conducting sensitivity training for co-workers, or modifying equipment or tools so that they can be used by employees with disabilities. When interviewing applicants with disabilities, 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 to applicants or employees who are blind or allow their use of readers.
Employers must accommodate the disabilities of employees that arise during employment by continuing the employee in the same position or reassigning the employee to a new position for which he or she is qualified or may become qualified with training.
Employers aren’t required to make any accommodation that would create undue hardship because (for example) it would be unduly expensive, require extensive physical or structural modifications to the workplace, or fundamentally change business operations. If a particular accommodation would result in undue hardship, however, employers still have to provide any alternative accommodation that is available and wouldn’t create undue hardship.
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.
