Employment Law Summary

PRE-EMPLOYMENT INQUIRIES AND EXAMINATIONS

The MFEPA allows employers to make pre-employment inquiries regarding an individual’s ability to perform job-related functions. Employers may not, however, conduct pre-employment inquiries to determine the existence or severity of a disability. The MFEPA also prohibits employers from requiring pre-employment medical examinations or genetic tests for this purpose. Under the MFEPA, pre-employment medical examinations are permitted only if:

• All entering employees in the same job category are subjected to the same examination regardless of disability; and
• The results of the exam are kept confidential and only used for:
  • Informing supervisors of any work restrictions and accommodations;
  • Informing safety personnel that the condition may require emergency treatment (if appropriate); and
  • Determining the employer’s compliance with MFEPA.

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS

Employers must provide reasonable accommodations for qualified employees with disabilities.

A qualified employee with a disability (QEWD) is a person who:

• Can perform, either with or without a reasonable accommodation, the essential functions of the job in question; or
• Is otherwise qualified for the benefit, term, condition, or privilege of employment at issue.

Employers may not refuse to hire a QEWD based on the need to provide a reasonable accommodation. Examples of accommodations that may be reasonable under the MFEPA include:

• Making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible to, and usable by, individuals with disabilities;
• Providing or modifying equipment or devices;
• Job restructuring;
• Part-time or modified work schedules;
• Reassigning or transferring an employee to a vacant position, light-duty job, different work location or other alternative employment opportunity which is available under the employer’s existing policies or practices;
• Teleworking;
• Permitting an employee to use paid or unpaid sick leave, disability leave, medical leave, or other leave which is available under the employer’s existing policies or practices;
• Adjusting or modifying examinations, training materials, or policies;
• Waiving a no pet requirement to allow use of a service animal;
• Providing applicants or employees with a disability with an opportunity to demonstrate their pertinent knowledge, skills, and abilities by testing methods adapted to their special circumstances if employment tests are used;
• Making reasonable modifications in the employer’s rules, policies, and practices if the modification may enable an applicant or employee with a disability to perform the essential functions of the job; and
• Reanalyzing, with full consideration to the needs of the applicant or employee with a disability, job specifications, qualifications, or criteria to determine if they may be waived or modified.

Effective Oct. 1, 2022, the MFEPA also requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for the known disability of

any job applicant, even if an applicant is not otherwise qualified for the position sought.

PREGNANCY

The MFEPA includes specific accommodation requirements for disabilities related to pregnancy. If a pregnant employee requests a reasonable accommodation, the employer must explore all possible means of providing it.

Reasonable accommodations for pregnancy include (but are not limited to):

• Changing the employee’s job duties;
• Changing the employee’s work hours;
• Relocating the employee’s work area;
• Providing mechanical or electrical aids;
• Transferring the employee to less strenuous or less hazardous position; and
• Providing leave.

When a pregnant employee requests a transfer to a less strenuous or hazardous position as a reasonable accommodation, the employer must make the transfer for the duration of the pregnancy if either of the following apply:

• The employer has a policy, practice or collective bargaining agreement requiring or authorizing transfers for employees with any other temporary disability; or
• The employee’s health care provider advises the transfer, and the employer can provide the transfer without:
  • Creating additional employment that the employer would not otherwise have created;
  • Discharging any other employee; Transferring any employee with more seniority than the pregnant employee; or
  • Promoting any employee who is not qualified to perform the job.

UNDUE HARDSHIP EXCEPTIONS

Employers do not have to accommodate any person’s disability if the accommodation would cause an undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business. The employer has the burden of proving it has an inability to accommodate a disability. The MFEPA also specifies that an undue hardship may excuse an employer from reasonably accommodating an employee’s religion.

The table below provides an overview of the factors that are considered in determining whether an accommodation would impose an undue hardship on a business.