Americans With Disabilities Act Policy for Employees and Applicants
OCU University is committed to full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. As such, it is the policy of OCU University to provide its employees an environment that is free from discrimination based on disability. The University prohibits harassment or retaliation against any individual requesting an accommodation or filing a complaint.
The University will make a good faith effort to provide a reasonable accommodation to qualified applicants and employees with disabilities to ensure their equal access to employment with the University unless it would result in an undue hardship to the University.
An individual with a disability is defined as any person who (1) has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities; (2) has a record of such impairment; or (3) is regarded as having such an impairment. An individual satisfying parts (1) or (2) of this definition and who can perform the essential functions of his or her position shall be referred to as a 鈥渜ualified individual.鈥�
The University will make a good faith effort to provide a reasonable accommodation to qualified applicants and employees with disabilities to ensure their equal access to employment with the University unless it would result in an undue hardship to the University.
For purposes of providing reasonable accommodation, applicants and employees are considered qualified if they possess the minimum qualifications of the position and can perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation.
Qualified individuals who wish to request a reasonable accommodation may contact the University鈥檚 Director of Employment in the University鈥檚 Human Resources Department. The Director of Employment reserves the right to request additional documentation if the initial documentation the individual provides is incomplete or inadequate to determine the need for accommodations.
Upon receipt of a request for an accommodation by a qualified applicant or employee, the Director of Employment will engage in an interactive process with the individual making the request. This interactive process will be an informal process designed to determine the nature of the limitations resulting from the disability and the appropriate accommodation that will overcome this limitation. Prior to providing an accommodation, the University reserves the right to require documentation prepared by an appropriate professional, including, but not limited to, the following documents: (1) a statement regarding how the individual鈥檚 disability affects a major life activity, and (2) a recommendation of a reasonable accommodation.
If the accommodation as initially provided is insufficient, upon receipt of notice of the insufficiency, the Director of Employment will make a good faith effort to implement any appropriate additional measures necessary to overcome the qualified individual鈥檚 limitations.
Information and records about individual disabilities are treated as confidential information under applicable federal and state laws and are only provided to individuals on a need-to-know basis when authorized by the individual.
The University has adopted a Grievance Procedure applicable to all allegations of discrimination or harassment as well as to any other allegation of a violation of University policy. That Procedure may be accessed at the following link: http://www.okcu.edu/policies/
Any individual wishing to view copies of the Americans with Disabilities Act, as amended in 2008, or this Policy may do so by visiting the office of the University Director of Employment or following the link below.
