An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 3 – Hiring

 The geographic separateness, administrative, or fiscal relationship of the facility or facilities of the school. 330 A school may also refuse to hire an applicant if the applicant would pose a direct threat to the health and safety of others or the applicant. 331 2. E MPLOYERS M AY R EQUEST R EASONABLE D OCUMENTATION O F T HE N EED F OR A CCOMMODATION Under both the FEHA and the ADA, a school must make reasonable accommodation for disabled applicants. 332 A school is entitled to know whether an applicant has a covered disability that entitles him or her to an accommodation in the hiring process. 333 The applicant may be required to provide documentation from an appropriate professional, such as a doctor or a rehabilitation counselor, concerning the applicant’s disability and functional limitations. 334 The school cannot require more than is reasonably necessary to establish the existence of the disability. 335 An applicant’s request for a reasonable accommodation during the hiring process provides a very limited exception to the general rule that a school may not require a medical examination until after it has made a conditional offer of employment. 336 An employer may require an applicant to go to a health care professional of the employer’s choice for the purposes of documenting need for accommodation and disability if the individual provides insufficient information from his or her health care professional to substantiate that he or she has a disability and needs a reasonable accommodation. 337 If, however, an individual provides insufficient documentation in response to the employer’s initial request, the employer should explain why the documentation is insufficient and allow the individual an opportunity to provide the missing information in a timely manner. 338 Documentation is insufficient if it does not specify the existence of an ADA disability and explain the need for reasonable accommodation. 339 Any medical examination conducted by the employer’s health professional must be job-related and consistent with business necessity. This means that the examination must be limited to determining the existence of an ADA disability and the functional limitations that require reasonable accommodation. 340 On the other hand, if an applicant’s disability is obvious, then the school may not require the applicant to obtain medical certification of the disability. 341 B. R EASONABLE A CCOMMODATIONS F OR A N A PPLICANT ’ S R ELIGIOUS C REED A school must make accommodations to the known religious creed of an applicant employee during the hiring process, unless it would impose an undue hardship. 342 The obligation to accommodate religious practices extends to scheduled times for interviews, examinations, and other functions related to employment opportunities. 343

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 97