1. Who is responsible for employees, American Sign Language, or captioning needs during their work hours?
The employer is responsible for providing communication access for their employees. At Berkeley, this means each department must think about budgeting for communication access. It is not allowed to decline employment based on a prospective employees' communication needs.
2. What do I do if an employee requests a work accomodation?
You can contact Disability Management Services for support and advice. Employers must meaningfully engage with employees who request a work accomodation, this process is called the interactive process. This process is laid out in PPSM 81.
3. Can I have an assistant to help with my work as a reasonable accommodation?
An assistant might be considered a reasonable accommodation if their services would let you do the essential duties of a job that may be difficult due to a disability. Read more about reasonable accomdations from Disability Benefits 101. [External link]
4. Am I allowed to have a Service Dog or Emotional Support Animal at work?
Yes! Service dogs are allowed to go anywhere that an individual goes, and we have a process to authorize Emotional Support Animals on campus. For more information, please refer to our Animals on Campus Policy.
5. My unit wants to set up a website. How do we ensure that it is accessible to people who are Blind or have other disabilities?
UC has an information technology accessibility policy that requires disability access to our websites and other technology we procure. The best way to ensure that a website is accessible is to use the Open Berkeley platform. It allows our webaccess team to automatically fix accessibility, privacy, and security problems on the site. Next, be sure to enroll your site for SiteImprove; this software runs an audit on your site and tells you how accessibility it is. If you choose not to use Open Berkeley, still keep in mind that you may not use no code sites and be assigned a berkeley.edu address.
6. If I feel I have been discriminated against by my employer due to a disability, where do I file a complaint?
Staff can file a disability discrimination complaint with the Office for Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination.