Thread regarding U.S. Bank layoffs

@ca Oh yes, they actually are that d-mb. The HR "ADA Specialists" are at the lowest salary grades (gotta keep 'em exempt so we can overwork them for free, amirite?). They're paid to follow procedures and scripts, not to think critically. Now that they've engaged Reliance Matrix to facilitate accommodation requests, USB HR is just the middleman and nobody knows what's going on.

With EEOC complaints starting to roll in, it's become a finger pointing match between USB and RM, hence the radio silence from both companies towards employees with pending cases. It's an absolute shïteshöw.

@1bt dats right don’t forget it

@sz Okay, Big Dog. Ruff ruff! 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣

@175

• See look at Jimmy over there worken in the office! Told ya we should deny the accommodation. Its only been months of sleeping at the wheel.. err i mean reviewing his accommodation to make a decision to work from home... Who cares if its right or wrong legal or even willingly do my a inch of my job at all! Good ol Jim has been doing this for the past 6 months in office and hes still here!

Nice going Jim for miraculously making a full recovery and for showing that you dont need your legally entitled accommodation for a disability... No biggie. You still have your limbs! You can continue to over exert yourself because we just simply dont care about what your doctor says. Who cares about the qualified md credentials. We sure dont care about performing the specialty part in our title being a disability specialist.

Especially, since we already work from home. Am I right? Tuda lewwwwwwww*

@bq not what my hr rep told me! Can’t continue remotely even though I have a case open to discuss the current accommodation they approved after denying remote. Pretty much sc--w you because you KNOW they won’t be replying in any timely manner to engage in the interactive process.

@t1 is he is dense, then you are just a rock. Dense as a rock and tiny iq like a pebble.

"Buddy, you misunderstood and trying to tell me to learn the laws?? The company doesn’t have to prove that to the employee when they offer an alternative accommodation. What you just outlined is completely different. Also, the courts would decide….How do you think suing your employer is going to play out? are you dense"

Your confidence weighs more than your knowledge.

What alternatives were offered? Were all alternatives offered? Were any alternatives offered actually effective in being offered? How was the alternative explored as required by the interactive process? Did dialogue and a discussion take place to find an alternative accommodation that is effective? Did the offered alternative satisfy the submitted medical documentation?

@an

This isnt legal advice but i would love to support. Sorry you have to go through this.

Some of these questions dumped from top of my head would be..

Do you feel that your accommodation was denied based on your disability?

Is your disability the reason why you are facing discrimination during the interactive process?

Did you let hr or a manager know how this experience has had a negative effect on your physical or mental health?

Did you tell your doctor about this and the denial?

Did you file a internal grievance?

How did your assigned investigator for your grievance conduct themselves?

Is there medical documentation that clearly details the requirements and need of your accommodation that is being denied?

When did hr or management receive it?

How did your assigned ADA specialist conduct themselves?

Did they acknowledge your medical documentation and restrictions. Was the communication respectful and coherent from your assigned specialist? Did they take the time to read and provide sufficient and timely responses to your communications? How long were the radio silence intervals? Did you make the manager of your assigned specialist aware? Do you feel like hr and management participated in good faith during the entire process of the interactive process before the denial decision was made?

Did you ask HR for a clear denial reason on letter head to formally provide the denial?

..... You may want to think about waiting as you have pointed out. Filing a complaint now preserves your claim of accommodation being wrongfully denied because your complaint will be based on that denial date... look at it as the incident date. I think you have 6 months from the "incident date" to sign and officially file your complaint with the EEOC. The EEOC will be able to investigate if the incident date falls within the 6-month window. But you will have two years for a legal lawsuit on a state level from the date of your complaint being accepted by the EEOC after signing.

Keep in mind the complaint application that is available online in the EEOC portal will ask if you want to file your complaint with both the EEOC (federal) and the CRD.. Civil rights department (civil)

make sure to choose yes. Both will be filed with EEOC and CRD at the same time after signing and filing.

So anyone who files as quickly as they can is the better option to choose.

You will be able to amend and add anything else that happens along the way after filing your complaint of the wrongful accommodation denial.

This includes what would be retaliation like bad reviews, negative feedback, early termination etc...

Submitting and filing a complaint with the EEOC using their online portal isnt long or difficult to complete. But make sure to always keep the timeline of everything in mind... the 6 month window... incident date... time of the eeoc process to sign and file (its not a overnight process) and the time of work interactions and communications.

Radio silence can be used in a discriminatory way of being used in bad faith during the interactive process.

And if they they are waiting for "legal input" in order for them to provide a response? i think that would someone else said on here in the comments.. then how sad.

How will the response times between yourself and hr during the interactive process be read and interpreted as by an outside party at a later date? What is the reason for the radio silence. Make sure to ask for the specific reason of the delay when the silence ends. Ask their manager and hr (so they hold each other accountable for the answers they give) what the service level response time your hr adviser is supposed to operate under.

It takes weeks for a "disability specialist" or the entire department to formulate a response?

Really?

Make sure the disability specialist manager and hr management is included in all of your communications. So no one is able to say at a later date, they didnt know, and the disability specialist just su-ked.. and such is life.

But i wouldnt be surprised that hr management would actually be the ones to get behind that lame excuse.

I wouldnt be surprised if that entire department cared about hand book rules.

Apparently, according to many, its their way or the highway. Disregard all that legal mumbo and handbook procedure jumbo. Sqwuak and bawk about the disability posers then flop around because their heads are filled with to much air to make the right decision.

Not a decision to discriminate because of the possibility of the existence of someone requesting "fake disability accommodations"

The bozo sqawking and bawking that nonsense couldnt recognize his face from his read end. Im sure the person that commented that is a real joy to be around when they squawk and bawk nonsense all day long.

Or maybe the delay and the radio silence is from a pinched fragile ego.

Either way, making it intolerable to honor a respectfully requested decision review is just sad at this point.

anywho,

If do you file, make sure you ready to document clearly. The slightest blip.... document.

Any adverse decision and actions (petty small, medium, or big; make sure you document) made about your accommodation, grievance will need to be carefully and clearly documented to be able to present.

maybe make a word document for a chronological timeline... something like that. but just dont wait and "tally" the incident dates up because time flies.

and i do understand why people in this horrible situation would want to wait... loyalty...job security... fear of standing up to yourself..... toxicity... retaliation....

and thee abosulte worse of then all... The two face environment you will live in until you move teams, department, or job..

or maybe not moving at all. Someone left... someone actually has good character to lessen their ego. And all is good.

just be prepared..

just my spill of a opinion.

@ry please keep us updated.

@t0 So your advice is allow the company to continue illegal activity and discriminate against people with disabilities? Why bother even having laws then, just let the companies do whatever they want 🙄
It is also interesting you are in this forum since you seem to be both a doctor and lawyer that knows all about people's disabilities. Oh and clairvoyant since you magically know that people have fake disabilities and that they magically appeared after covid. A whole lot of assumptions based on no facts.

@g0 Buddy, you misunderstood and trying to tell me to learn the laws?? The company doesn’t have to prove that to the employee when they offer an alternative accommodation. What you just outlined is completely different. Also, the courts would decide….How do you think suing your employer is going to play out? are you dense

@ry have fun finding a new job

@r6 These people complaining about remote work don’t have real disabilities. They just want to do whatever they want (ie work remote) under the disguise of a fake disability….

Let me use small words for the people in the forum….. If you were going into the office at US Bank prior to COVID, then all of the sudden for whatever reason you have a “disability” and can’t comply with the new in-office policy….. Yeah SUS! hey, i’m sorry you got used to working from home, or have a family member to take care of, or bought a house far away from the office. I get it. Life is hard and it’s not supposed to be easy. Let me ask the forum this…. Would US Bank have a such a strict micro managey in office policy to the degree that they do, if people across the board were complying with the in office policy when it was first rolled out under Andy? That’s the litmus test right there. So, the people who don’t comply, and go to extreme lengths to cya via fake disabilities that they magically have post COVID, and the only remedy is remote work….. yaa I have beef with you people because you guys are the reason why the in office policy is so ridged and have messed up what freedom we did have.

I’m sorry you don’t want to talk to people in the office, or you have some kind of social issues, or whatever the case is. Nobody is asking you to work upside down for 48 hours… You can come to the office like everybody else.

@kw In similar situation. Radio silence from HR after an accomendation process was not interactive. I am engaging an attorney and filing with EEOC. They have to follow the laws.

eeoc

Some of you are horrible people. Heaven forbid you ever deal with a disability.

Do you think those with the type of disability that require work from home as the best accommodation would love NOTHING more than to be able bodied? To be “normal”. ?

@mz, some people have lifelong disabilities that are best accommodated by ongoing remote work. Your lack of knowledge about disabilities and accommodations doesn’t make that sus - it just means you’re ignorant.

@mx, what evidence do you have that accommodations are being “abused”? You have to have documentation from a licensed medical professional who has treated you to get an accommodation. No one is getting one because they just got a puppy.

@g9 It’s called an extrapolation based on the fact that this person is only interested in an indefinite remote accommodation, which is sus. Did they break their leg? have a surgery?

Sounds like OP doesn’t want to show up for work.

@kw what’s your condition?

The issue is most of the people at USB are abusing remote work arrangements, and also abusing the accommodation requests for simply no other reason than they prefer to remote. You don’t get to work from home because you just got a puppy…. oh I have anxiety, you have to let me work remote - you’ve been an employee for 10 years… stop it

@bq where did you see this? They closed my hr case after ignoring my doctors recommendation of remote work. When I tried their approved accommodations onsite I opened another ticket to reengage in the interactive process to which it’s been silence. A major stressor of this is that I even requested to continue working remotely while they review further, trying to act in good faith. Yet nothing. So I’m threat ended to continue working in conditions that do not help my disability.

@g9 Hear hear!

Well said, @g9

@fw you clearly have no idea how a disability accommodation works. I sure as sh-t hope you're not a people manager because that will get you sued and you will lose.

The amount of misinformation and outright hostility toward employees requesting ADA accommodations in this thread is astounding!

Let’s clarify something: Reasonable accommodations are not special privileges, loopholes, or attempts to avoid following the rules. They are protections established under federal law.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers are required to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees with disabilities unless doing so would impose an undue hardship. An employer does not get to arbitrarily dismiss an accommodation request simply because it prefers everyone in the office!!

And while a medical provider does not dictate the final accommodation, medical documentation absolutely matters. Employers are expected to engage in an interactive process to identify an effective accommodation. They may offer an alternative, but that alternative must actually address the employee’s disability-related limitations.

Remote work can absolutely qualify as a reasonable accommodation, depending on the employee’s essential job functions and individual circumstances.

And calling people “mediocre” or “entitled” for requesting accommodations? Seriously?? That’s particularly ignorant. You know absolutely nothing about their performance, medical circumstances, or contributions to their organizations.

An employee can be exceptionally productive, dedicated, and successful while also having a disability that makes working in a traditional office environment difficult or impossible.

Disability accommodations are not rewards for exceptional employees, either. They are legal protections, not performance bonuses.

You don’t have to understand someone’s disability to respect their legal rights. And you certainly don’t need to ridicule people for exercising them.

Perhaps spend less time judging employees with disabilities and more time understanding the laws that protect them.

They do actually have to be able to prove that providing an accommodation would cause undue hardship for the business, and the EEOC ultimately gets to decide that if a complaint is made. So maybe read the actual law before you decide to spout hateful nonsense.

@an Ultimately, the employer gets to decide what is and what is not reasonable. You guys are so silly in this thread. A doctor doesn’t get to dictate the outcome of your reasonable accommodation request. So many of you USB employees work so hard to work remote for a mid company and mid pay. just go to the office and the follow the rules. it’s not that hard. Being unemployed and finding a different job, only to end up going to the office is goof.

@fr They don’t have to prove anything. Just that they offered the employee an accommodation.

Stop trying to get around not going into the office. The audacity to come on here and ask for advice. I think it’s time you find a new company to work for that suits your need to not be in office. You can’t be mediocre and acting entitled.

What has the bank done to prove that remote work is no longer a reasonable accommodation for the business to provide?

The bank is doing everything it can to get employees back in the office and they will offer "alternatives accommodations" to remote work (and claim it will allow to you to be onsite). If they do that I would go back to your doctor and have them submit paperwork explaining why the alternative accommodation is not reasonable (and the only reasonable accommodation is remote work).

This thread reminds me of how in college we all knew which doctor to go get that special note for medical mari--ana. Ooof my old baseball injury is back.

@cc what reasonable accommodations did they offer?

@cc I pushed back when they pulled this with me. Had them keep the case open so my doctor could, you know, provide feedback on them ignoring their recommendations. Still waiting for them to come back after his rebuttal, dang near another 3 months. Been at this with them since early Q2.

@cc did you fight it? or just not go to the office?

Mine was denied after 4 years because a “reasonable” accommodation was offered. My doctor documented that the reasonable accommodation was remote, but they came back with what they deemed reasonable and they said that was all that was necessary.

@a6 They are d-mb, but they aren't that d-mb. Huge lawsuits would be everywhere if they denied these ADA accommodations.

While waiting for them to say yes or no, you can still work remote, hope the process take longer so you don’t hear that NO then have ti come back to office. Just chill my friend!

You seem so organized and laser-focused when it comes to assuring that your paperwork and approval is on point every year, so why weren't you aware that your latest approval expired in September until your manager notified you? Wouldn't the dates of duration for that last approval had been on the paperwork you signed last year?

Also, re:
"I reached out to my HR rep 4 times and emailed them and eventually got a response saying they are still in the review process, there’s no updates at this time."

So then stop bugging them.
Take your foot off the gas pedal with this issue, and just coast until they tell you otherwise.
Obviously they're waiting on someone or something else to give them the go-ahead, before being able/willing to give you a definitive yes or no. Maybe the rules have changed since last time. Maybe different individuals or committees are weighing in, who haven't been involved previously. Maybe legal is being brought into the mix, and they're waiting on some new laws to be implemented or finalized/clarified before making/relaying to employees their decisions for this upcoming year.

Assume that repeatedly harping on HR for an answer, when they've already told you to just sit tight until they inform you, isn't going to help you in this decision-making process.

No one is inclined to bend the rules or do any favors for an impatient PITA.

Chill.

@an I am so sorry that you and @op are going through this, especially in a company that loves to pretend to support the disabled community. I have no advice but needed to let you know that the kraken comment was hilarious.