Ask HN: Has anyone been in this situation?

15 points by giantg2 ↗ HN
Have you ever been promised ADA accommodations, then the company didn't provide them for a significant part of the year (5-6 months). Then they gave you a low year end rating based off of opinion despite higher than expected output for your level? What happened? Did you confront them and they resolved it, or did it go to court?

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ADA accommodations can be a paper tiger when it comes to ratings and reviews - there’s a reason the majority of people with autism don’t work. Document everything, lawyer if you need to (if you think you may need one, call one for a consult).
I've not had this experience, but I am sorry you seem to be. You may be interested in the following, pulled from the federal governments dept. of labor website:

*"Myth: Under the ADA, employers must give people with disabilities special privileges, known as accommodations.*

Fact: Reasonable accommodations are intended to ensure that qualified individuals with disabilities have rights in employment equal — not superior — to those of individuals without disabilities. A reasonable accommodation is a modification to a job, work environment or the way work is performed that allows an individual with a disability to apply for a job, perform the essential functions of the job, and enjoy equal access to benefits available to other individuals in the workplace.

*Myth: Providing accommodations for people with disabilities is expensive.*

Fact: The majority of workers with disabilities do not need accommodations to perform their jobs, and for those who do, the cost is usually minimal. According to the Job Accommodation Network (JAN), a service from the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy, 58% of accommodations cost absolutely nothing to make, while the rest typically cost only $500. Moreover, tax incentives are available to help employers cover the costs of accommodations, as well as modifications required to make their businesses accessible to persons with disabilities."

You are well within your rights to expect reasonable accommodation per the above. Have you spoken with HR about your concerns? I would be sure to create a timeline of all verbal interactions from the time you were interviewed to the current. Who you spoke with, what was stated to you, what date. Speaking with HR can be in your favor, or it could go in the favor of the company -they are there primarily to protect the company from lawsuits.

I had some meetings with HR before the rating came out. They didn't really address this lack of previously agreed to accommodations. Now I've reached out for further clarity since the rating came down and they have been radio silent for a week or two. As for how reasonable the ask was, it was just to have additonal coaching, like a 1-on-1 every week instead of every two weeks so I can get more pertinent feedback to make any changes. For 5-6 months, I wasn't even given the normal level of coaching eith fewer than one meeting per month. I've been documenting everything for a while now. I don't want to go the lawyer route, but I feel like I have too.
> 1-on-1 every week

That’s just normal to me.

Yeah, here it is every two weeks without accommodations (or supposed to be).

This place is doing other shady stuff. My previous meeting with HR was about expectations around work complexity. Internal postings and the external posting for this role state that this is for intermediate work of moderate complexity. There's another internal document that says medium to high work for this level. However, the grammar that is used suggests the high part is just so they don't have to promote you if you are doing some high complexity work. This is further supported by their example of a medium to high task - resolution of a production issue (I have several examples of this). I have a secondary role for 10% of my time and the guy that runs that says my work is medium to high complexity and is giving me exemplary feedback. Even my manager put that I have high productivity and completing satisfactory work for low and medium complexity work. He also said that we didn't have much high complexity work this year, so there was limited opportunity for it. None of it makes sense to me.

There's another guy on the team that is my level that was promised a promotion if he stuck around, but they reneged. Even my manager told me if I were on another team, I'd probably be promoted, but the department head was targeting me for a PIP earlier in the year for some unknown reason. So even without the disability part, what they are telling me isn't matching the policies.

> year end rating based off of opinion

Is there some other kind of year end rating?

Usually the opinion is based in metrics and data. This one is not.
I have a friend of a friend, that works for NASA. Was hired specifically as a disabled hire. His management gave him NO end of grief. Violated many NASA and US Gov rules / laws.

His disability prevented him from being able to go into the office, but he could EASILY do all of his work from home. They wanted him to get a doctors note EACH and EVERY day he could not make it in to work at the office. WTF if he cant make it into work, what makes you think he can get a doctors note.

He filed with his union, turns out NASA has a union, who knew. They started the process but ten he found himself a different job, one that actually cared.

Sad that he had to go and change jobs. The new group has him working completely remote.

Irony is NASA just had an event about awareness for disability, what a joke (see article https://redstonerocket-al.newsmemory.com?selDate=20241106&go...) He tried working through his manager, his managers manager, and the Equal Opportunity Office. Talk about 3 people who are clearly promoted above their skill level.

TL;DR friend of a friend just found another job.

That's wild. If the disability is permanent, he should only need one note that says that.
Social Security says my disability isn't permanent and insists on revisiting the same stuff every 2 years. Oh, and if you live in Texas, the state of Arkansas does disability determinations for federal Social Security.
In the current regressive economic climate, if you WfH or present any sort of evidence that you cost them a penny more than another "cog" of a worker, you will be flagged as a "liability" and you will be put to the top of the pile to be encouraged to quit through passive-aggressive means or laid off first.