Community resources and business engagement

An employee with PTSD has difficulty concentrating in an open-plan office. The most appropriate reasonable accommodation is:

1. assignment to a different supervisor
   Changing supervisors can be an accommodation for some conflicts, but the problem described here is the noisy setting, not the supervisor.
2. unpaid leave until symptoms resolve
   Leave is for treatment or recovery needs; it does not help her concentrate at work and takes her out of the job.
3. a quieter workspace or headphones
   A quieter workspace, noise-canceling headphones, or partitions directly reduce the distractions that disrupt concentration for an employee with PTSD.
4. reduced production standards
   Employers need not lower production standards that apply to everyone; the accommodation should help her meet them.

An employee discloses her epilepsy to her supervisor while requesting an accommodation. Under the ADA, the medical information must be:

1. shared with coworkers so they can help in a seizure.
   First aid and safety staff may be told if emergency treatment could be needed, but coworkers in general may not.
2. kept in a separate confidential medical file.
   The ADA requires medical information to be kept confidential in a file separate from the personnel file, with limited sharing such as telling supervisors about needed restrictions.
3. shared with all managers in her department.
   Only supervisors who need to know about restrictions or accommodations may be told, not every manager in the department.
4. placed in her regular personnel file.
   Placing medical information in the general personnel file violates the ADA's separate-file rule.

A private company with 40 employees and no federal contracts or federal funding must provide reasonable accommodation to qualified employees with disabilities under:

1. ADA Title I.
   ADA Title I covers private employers with 15 or more employees and requires reasonable accommodation for qualified employees, whether or not federal money is involved.
2. ADA Title III.
   Title III covers public accommodations such as stores and restaurants serving the public, not employment.
3. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
   Section 504 applies to programs receiving federal financial assistance, which this company does not get.
4. Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act.
   Section 503 applies only to federal contractors, and this company has no federal contracts.

An employer reassigns an employee's occasional, marginal heavy-lifting tasks to a coworker and gives her some of the coworker's filing duties in exchange. This accommodation is:

1. transitional duty.
   Transitional duty is temporary light work during recovery from an injury; this is a lasting change in how duties are divided.
2. job carving.
   Job carving assembles a new position from tasks across several jobs, usually for a job seeker; she keeps her own job with traded tasks.
3. job restructuring.
   Job restructuring reallocates or swaps marginal functions among workers, a reasonable accommodation the ADA names explicitly.
4. reassignment.
   Reassignment moves the employee to a different vacant position and is the accommodation of last resort; she stays in her current job.

A counselor meets with local employers to learn their workforce needs and serves them as a priority alongside job-seeking clients. This is called:

1. supported employment
   Supported employment is a service model for people needing ongoing job-site support, not a philosophy of employer engagement.
2. the dual-customer approach
   The dual-customer approach treats employers as customers alongside job seekers, building partnerships around employers' workforce needs.
3. the client-centered job search
   A client-centered search focuses on the job seeker's goals alone; the stem stresses serving employers too.
4. the selective placement model
   Selective placement matches one client to a carefully chosen job; it does not treat employers as ongoing customers of VR.

An employer hesitates to hire a VR client because of expected accommodation costs. The counselor's most accurate response is that:

1. most accommodations cost little or nothing
   Job Accommodation Network surveys find that about half of accommodations cost nothing and most others cost little, usually as a one-time expense.
2. employers under 50 employees are exempt
   ADA Title I covers employers with 15 or more employees; 50 is the FMLA threshold.
3. VR must pay for any accommodation needed
   VR may help in some cases, but the ADA puts the accommodation duty on the employer unless it causes undue hardship.
4. the ADA caps employer costs at $1,000
   The ADA sets no dollar cap; undue hardship is judged case by case against the employer's resources.

A hospital hosts a year-long, business-led internship program for students with intellectual disabilities in their last year of high school, with rotations aimed at competitive employment. This model is:

1. Individual Placement and Support.
   IPS is supported employment for adults with serious mental illness that skips internships and goes straight to a job search.
2. the clubhouse model.
   The clubhouse model is a member-run community for adults with mental illness, not a school-to-work internship program.
3. Project SEARCH.
   Project SEARCH is a business-led, one-year transition program, often in hospitals, where students in their final school year rotate through internships toward competitive employment.
4. a sheltered workshop.
   A sheltered workshop is a segregated setting, the opposite of business-led internships aimed at integrated jobs.

A client leaving a nursing facility wants peer counseling and help with skills such as cooking, budgeting and using transit, from an organization run by people with disabilities. The counselor should refer to:

1. a Center for Independent Living
   Centers for Independent Living are consumer-controlled, with a majority of people with disabilities on staff and board, and their core services include peer counseling, living-skills training, and nursing-facility transition.
2. an American Job Center
   American Job Centers are WIOA one-stops for employment and training, not peer counseling or daily-living skills.
3. a community rehabilitation program
   A CRP provides vocational services under contract, often job coaching, and is not required to be run by people with disabilities.
4. the Client Assistance Program
   CAP advocates for people in disputes with VR or other Rehabilitation Act programs; it does not provide skills training.

While an SSDI beneficiary who has assigned his Ticket is making timely progress toward his work goals, SSA will:

1. ignore his earnings when deciding on benefits
   Earnings still count toward the TWP and SGA rules; the Ticket shields him from medical reviews, not from work-activity reviews.
2. extend his Trial Work Period with no time limit
   The TWP stays 9 months within a rolling 60-month window; the Ticket does not lengthen it.
3. guarantee him Medicare coverage for life
   Working SSDI beneficiaries can keep Medicare for an extended period, at least 93 months after the trial work period, but not for life, and the Ticket does not change that.
4. not start medical continuing disability reviews
   A Ticket holder who is using the Ticket and making timely progress toward work goals is protected from medical continuing disability reviews.

After an SSDI beneficiary uses all 9 Trial Work Period months, the 36-month period in which benefits are paid for any month his earnings fall below SGA is the:

1. Section 1619(a) protection
   Section 1619(a) lets SSI recipients keep cash payments while earning above SGA; it is an SSI rule, not an SSDI period.
2. Expedited Reinstatement period
   Expedited reinstatement restarts benefits within 5 years after they ended for work; the EPE comes before termination.
3. Extended Period of Eligibility
   The EPE is the 36-month reentitlement period right after the TWP, in which SSDI is paid for any month earnings fall below SGA.
4. Presumptive Disability period
   Presumptive disability is an SSI provision that pays up to 6 months while a claim for certain severe conditions is decided.

A former SSDI beneficiary's benefits ended two years ago because of work above SGA. He must now stop working because of the same impairment. He can:

1. start a new nine-month Trial Work Period
   A new TWP is not available right away; it comes only after 24 months of reinstated benefits.
2. file a new application and wait five months again
   Within the 5-year window, expedited reinstatement avoids a new application and a new waiting period.
3. ask for Section 1619(b) to restore his checks
   Section 1619(b) continues Medicaid for working SSI recipients; it does not restore SSDI cash benefits.
4. request expedited reinstatement of benefits
   Expedited reinstatement lets a former beneficiary whose benefits stopped because of work ask to restart them within 60 months without a new application, with provisional payments while SSA decides.

A client in supported employment has finished VR's time-limited job coaching but needs ongoing support to keep his job. These extended services for adults are usually funded by:

1. the employer, as required by the ADA
   The ADA requires reasonable accommodation, not ongoing support services paid for by the employer.
2. the state VR agency for an unlimited time
   VR supported employment services are time-limited, generally up to 24 months; VR may fund extended services only for youth, and only for a limited time.
3. the Social Security Administration directly
   SSA work incentives such as PASS or IRWE can help pay for supports, but SSA does not directly fund extended services.
4. state Medicaid waivers or disability agencies
   After VR's time-limited supported employment services, ongoing extended services usually come from Medicaid home and community-based waivers or state developmental disability or mental health agencies.

When helping an employer decide whether a task is an essential function of a returning worker's job under the ADA, which factor is MOST relevant?

1. Whether it is done less than once a month
   Rarely performed tasks can still be essential, such as a lifeguard's rescues; frequency alone does not decide.
2. Whether the position exists to perform it
   Under EEOC rules, a function is essential when the position exists to perform it, among other factors such as the time spent on it and the consequences of not performing it.
3. Whether coworkers would rather not do it
   Coworker preferences have no bearing on whether a function is essential.
4. Whether the worker can currently perform it
   Whether this worker can do the task now is a separate question; essential functions are defined by the job, not the person.

A client with newly diagnosed ALS applies for SSDI. SSA identifies conditions like this, which clearly meet its disability standards, and speeds the decision through its:

1. Presumptive Disability payments
   Presumptive disability pays SSI for up to 6 months during a claim; it is an SSI payment, not SSDI fast-track processing.
2. Expedited Reinstatement provision
   Expedited reinstatement restarts benefits that stopped because of work; it does not speed a first claim.
3. Continuing Disability Review process
   A CDR rechecks people already receiving benefits; it does not decide new applications.
4. Compassionate Allowances program
   Compassionate Allowances flag conditions such as ALS that clearly meet SSA's standards, speeding decisions with minimal medical evidence.

In a lawsuit over a catastrophic spinal cord injury, an attorney asks for a document projecting the client's lifetime needs and costs for medical care, equipment, attendant care, and therapy. The counselor should prepare:

1. an Individualized Plan for Employment
   An IPE is a VR services plan toward an employment goal, not a forensic projection of lifetime care costs.
2. a life care plan
   A life care plan projects the lifetime medical, equipment, attendant, therapy, and related needs of a person with a catastrophic injury, with costs, and is often used in litigation.
3. a transferable skills analysis
   A transferable skills analysis identifies jobs a person can still do; it does not cost out lifetime medical and care needs.
4. a vocational evaluation report
   A vocational evaluation report addresses work capacity and employability, which is only one part of the damages picture.

A client receiving SSDI wants to work but fears losing her monthly checks and health coverage. The counselor should refer her to:

1. a WIPA benefits counselor
   Work Incentives Planning and Assistance projects, funded by SSA, give beneficiaries free benefits counseling on how work affects SSDI, Medicare, and other benefits.
2. the Medicaid office
   The Medicaid office handles Medicaid eligibility only; her questions center on SSDI and Medicare work rules.
3. the Client Assistance Program
   CAP helps with disputes involving VR and other Rehabilitation Act programs, not work-incentive planning.
4. a disability claims attorney
   A disability claims attorney helps people win benefits, not plan how working will affect benefits they already have.