Zimbabwe Rule of Law Journal |105
take positive action to ensure that members of disadvantaged groups benefit equally from services
offered to the general public is subject to the principle of reasonable accommodation”.45
On the employment terrain, reasonable accommodation boils down to “any change in the work
environment or in the way things are customarily done that enables an individual with a disability to
enjoy equal employment opportunities’’.46 According to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990,
there are three types of “reasonable accommodations” at the work place:
“(i) modifications or adjustments to a job application process that enable a qualified applicant with
a disability to be considered for the position such qualified applicant desires; or
(ii) modifications or adjustments to the work environment, or to the manner or circumstances
under which the position held or desired is customarily performed, that enable a qualified individual
with a disability to perform the essential functions of that position; or
(iii) modifications or adjustments that enable a covered entity’s employee with a disability to
enjoy equal benefits and privileges of employment as are enjoyed by its other similarly situated
employees without disabilities”.47
However, as indicated earlier, ‘reasonable accommodation’ should not cause “undue hardship” to the
employer. This was clarified through the US case of Norcross v Sneed
where the complainant, who
48
was blind, had his application to work as school librarian rejected on the ground that once a year
the librarian would have to take learners on a field trip. The court was of the view that possessing a
driving license for the position was neither reasonable nor essential. Driving ability was necessary for
the job for it was required only once a year. Alternative transport could be arranged by the employer
without suffering undue hardship or burden.
45
As above, para 79.
46
Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (the ‘ADA’).
47
Enforcement Guidance: Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship under the Americans with Disabilities Act available
at http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/accommodation.html (accessed on 21 September 2016).
48
Norcross v Sneed 755 F2d 113 (8th Cir 1983)
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