The Reasonableness of Working from Home in the Digital Age
Main Article Content
Keywords
home-based work, reasonable accommodation, Americans with Disabilities Act
Abstract
The Americans with Disabilities Act states that employers must make "reasonable accommodations" to allow disabled employees to work effectively. Using summary statistics, a theoretical model and a legal history, this article will attempt to determine whether home-based work is a “reasonable accommodation” under this law.
References
Edwards, L. N., & Field-Hendrey, E. (2002). Home-based work and women’s labor force decisions. Journal of Labor Economics, 20(1), 170-200.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt. (n.d.) Retrieved from
http://www.fact-archive.com/encyclopedia/FDR
Gallagher, H. (1985). FDR’s splendid deception. New York: Dodd Mead.
Hotchkiss, J. (2003). The labor market experience of workers with disabilities: The ADA and beyond. Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute.
Hypes v. First Commerce Corp., 134 F.3d 721 (5th Cir. 1998).
Kaye, H.S. (2003). Improved employment opportunities for people with disabilities. (Disability Statistics Report 17). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.
Kuenzi, J., & Reschovsky, C. (2001). Home-based workers in the United States: 1997. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/p70-78.pdf
Kvorjak v. Maine., 259 F.3d 4 (1st Cir. 2001).
Ludgate, K. (1997). Telecommuting and the Americans with Disabilities Act: Is working at home a reasonable accommodation? 81 Minn. L. Rev. 1309.
Mason v. Avaya Communications, Inc., 357 F.3d 1114 (10th Cir. 2004).
O’Brien, R. (2001). Crippled justice: The history of modern disability policy in the workplace. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Ruggles, S., Sobek, M., Alexander, T., Fitch, C. A., Goeken, R., Kelly Hall, P., King, M., Ronnander, C. (2004). Integrated Public Use Microdata Series [Machine-readable database]. Minneapolis: Minnesota Population Center [producer and distributor]. http://usa.ipums.org/usa/
Schwochau, S., & Blanck, P. (2003). Does the ADA disable the disabled? -- More comments. Industrial Relations, 42(1), 67-77
Smith v. Ameritech, 129 F.3d 857 (6th Cir. 1997).
U.S. Department of Labor: Office of Disability Employment Policy. (2008). Employment rights: Who has them and who enforces them. Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/fact/rights.htm
Valenza, M.A. (2004). Telework and the ADA: Is working at home finally a reasonable accommodation? 5 U.C. Davis Bus. L.J. 2, at http://bizlawjournal.ucdavis.edu/article.asp?id=547.
Vande Zande v. Wisconsin Department of Administration, 44 F.3d 538 (7th Cir. 1995).
Waggoner v. Olin Corp., 169 F.3d 481, 483 (7th Cir. 1999).
Article Sidebar
Article Details
RDS Journal is an open-access journal, create a free account to read full articles and to submit a proposal. For visual arts and multimedia, submission will be considered evidence that you are offering RDS the right to display your work without penalty, compensation or royalties.
Jennifer Tennant
Jennifer Tennant, Ph.D. is an Economist working in New York. During her doctoral studies, she was a research assistant at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Her research interests include health, labor, public finance and credit risk.