According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, older adults and people of any age who have serious underlying medical conditions are considered to be members of a ‘vulnerable population’ that might be at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19. For more details on the CDC’s definition of ‘vulnerable population,’ please visit the CDC website.
The University of Alabama is cognizant that risk mitigation related to COVID-19 can be achieved with prudent planning, including social distancing, the use of masks, and hybrid and remote delivery for appropriate classes on campus. Detailed health and safety protocols to be followed for specific divisions and/or campus activities are available for review in the Return Plan.
Faculty, Staff, and Student Workers/Graduate Assistants who are members of this ‘vulnerable population’ may be concerned about working on campus. Vulnerable employees and/or employees who share a household with or have primary care responsibility for someone who is in the vulnerable population may complete the online form to request temporary, COVID-19 accommodations. Examples of COVID-19 accommodations include continuing to work remotely, changing shifts and/or changing work schedule to allow for staggered arrival and departure times, physical work site modifications, providing additional personal protective equipment (PPE), leave of absence, etc.
When seeking such accommodations, employees will not be required to provide any protected health information related to a medical condition unless directly requested by Human Resources. For those requesting temporary, COVID-19 accommodations, please do so as soon as possible after determining the potential need for such an accommodation.
The employee’s immediate supervisor and/or department chair will receive a copy of the request to initiate the approval process, which may include input from the appropriate Dean or Assistant Vice President, as well as the Office of Academic Affairs or Human Resources.
Approval of a requested accommodation is not guaranteed. Requests will be reviewed in accordance with the University’s health and safety protocols and subject to an undue hardship analysis. Because an accommodation implicates an essential function of the employee’s job, any approved accommodation will be provided on a temporary basis to be defined at the discretion of the University. Please allow 7-10 business days for processing. Employees will receive a system-generated email with a final decision after evaluation of the employee’s accommodation. All approved accommodations will automatically expire on December 31, 2020.
Employees who have a disability and need accommodations should continue to follow the established Employee Procedures for Requesting Reasonable Accommodations per the ADA.
Direct questions to the HR Service Center at (205) 348-7732 or hrsvctr@ua.edu.
* NOTE: An alternative COVID-19 Accommodation Request Form is available for the following individuals only: 1) newly hired employees who do not have an assigned CWID, 2) employees with a secondary/overload position for which they need to request an accommodation, and/or 3) employees who do not currently have an active job. The same approval levels, accommodation examples and processing timeline described above applies. >