Certified Professional in Disability Management
Advanced Practitioner in Workplace Mediation

Workers Compensation    |    Title VII     |     ADA     |     FEHA     |    JAN    |    Ergonomics Flyer

When injury, illness or disability strike!

Harness productivity, protect your employee’s health, and control your disability costs through reasonable accommodation and disability management strategies.  Reduce the risks and costs of informal and formal complaints and workers compensation claims.  Prevail in court Every Time!

Reasonable Accommodation Options

Ability to Accommodate

Readily Achievable

Undue Hardship

Effectiveness to Perform Essential Functions

Return-to-work / Stay-at-work Transitional Programs

Confidentiality

Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation

Don’t wait until someone litigates!
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Disability Management · Reasonable Accommodation

What Is Disability Management?

Disability Management is a proactive program directed at minimizing the impact of disability on each employee’s physical capabilities as related to job performance. A disability management program should benefit both your organization and the members of its workforce by reducing the cost of disability to employers while assisting the disabled employees in returning to work.

Promoting the early return to work of injured employees is desirable for a number of reasons. An employee’s chance for successfully returning to his/her regular job increases if he/she returns to work soon after (ideally within two weeks) an injury occurs. Most employees are capable of doing some work activities within a few days of sustaining an injury.

An effective Disability Management Program can promote significant "bottom line" advantages to your organization in important areas such as productivity, benefits/work comp cost management, and prevention. Here are a few examples of advantages in each area:

•    - Reduce direct and indirect disability costs such as days of lost time, disability benefits, sick time.
•    - Reduce potential lost time.
•    - Eliminate formal FEHA/EEO complaints
•    - Reduce Workers’ Compensation costs and claims

Program Benefits
   - Quick and safe return to work
   - Reduced lost time expenses
   - Reduced replacement costs or downtime
   - Increased productivity
   - Increased morale
   - Ongoing support to employees with disabilities

The Interactive Process
Through the interactive reasonable accommodation process, employers accomplish effective and realistic job accommodations, avoid costly lawsuits and reduce lost productivity through the effective use resources and development of strategic partnerships among employees, supervisors, disability insurance professionals, and medical providers.<

Debra Vitali Dupree provides that external third-party voice for employers to recognize and realistically solve workplace challenges resulting from disabilities, illnesses, or injuries that impact attendance, job performance, and essential functions.

Effective reasonable accommodations are achievable when objectively evaluated against the business needs of the organization in light of the employee’s functional capacities. Parties to the process quickly learn why and how it matters to both the individual and the organization and why a “both-gain” solution is critical to the success of a disability situation.

Debra expertly facilitates the interactive process advocated by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the guidelines set forth by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the California Fair Employment Housing Act ( FEHA).  She brings to the table over 25 years experience and an expertise, experience and knowledge in the field of disability and conflict management practices.

Debra also provides VOCATIONAL EXPERT WITNESS services for litigated cases.  Request a sample of her courtroom work.

Here are some questions to consider...

• Do you have an interactive dialogue process in place to communicate with a disabled employee to identify a reasonable accommodation that will allow him to keep working?
• Do you know when to start the interactive dialogue with an employee with a disability?
• What is reasonable accommodation? What impact exists on reassignment when collective bargaining agreements exist?
• What is undue hardship?
  
  
  
  Training programs available at your workplace:
  Reducing the Risks of Disability: An Interactive, Reasonable Accommodation Process
  Showing up for Work Really Counts:  Attendance and the Americans with Disabilities Act
  What’s going on?  When hidden disability exists and nobody knows it!
  When the Job Really Matters…Defining Essential Functions & Performance Elements
  When our Minds and Bodies Change…using Ergonomics to improve the bottom line for employee wellness and accountability