SMC Incorporated noncompliance with the ADA

SMC Incorporated noncompliance with the ADA

Executive summary

SMC Incorporated was created in the United States of America to assist in providing Assistive Technology (AT) for supporting the disabled persons working in the federal government. It’s charged with the responsibility of offering accommodative terms, especially to those living with disabilities and advocating the same to other employers. Assistive technology has been defined as any item, whether commercially acquired, modified, or customized at the workplace to enhance the functionality of individuals with disabilities (Choi, 2011). Its significant role includes ensuring people living with disabilities get the necessary enabling environment in the execution of their daily duties. Assistive technology acts as a means of accommodating people with disabilities. The enabling environment would entail hearing aids to aid the employees with hearing impairment in communicating with customers and electronic devices that assist in the communication among other provisions. Offering the assistance needed and improving the working conditions of employed people living with disabilities boosts their morale and motivates them to be more productive at the workplace. SMC plays the advocates’ role by pushing for adoption of the ADA by itself and by other employers. However, the incorporation has failed in its duty as an employer. Secondly, an advocate of the rights of the people living with disabilities. Besides, in some instances, it has not ensured the availability of aiding resources such as sign interpreters and next-generation computers for the visually impaired. Employers should, therefore, put in place measures and enact policies aimed at curbing discrimination at the workplace and offering a conducive working environment for those living with disabilities. SMC Incorporated was created in the United States of America to assist in providing Assistive Technology (AT) for supporting the disabled persons working in the federal government. It’s charged with the responsibility of offering accommodative terms, especially to those living with disabilities and advocating the same to other employers. Assistive technology has been defined as any item, whether commercially acquired, modified, or customized at the workplace to enhance the functionality of individuals with disabilities. Its significant role includes ensuring people living with disabilities get the necessary enabling environment in the execution of their daily duties. Assistive technology acts as a means of accommodating people with disabilities. The enabling environment would entail ramps at the working place for those using wheelchairs to navigate around the building quickly, hearing aids to aid the employees in communicating with customers and electronic devices that assist in the communication among other provision (Choi, 2011). Offering the assistance needed and improving the working conditions of employed people living with disabilities boosts their morale and motivates them to be more productive at the workplace. SMC plays the advocates’ role by pushing for adoption of the ADA by the state corporations and other employers. However, the incorporation has failed in its duty as an employer. Secondly, an advocate of the rights of the people living with disabilities. The organization has not ensured the availability of aiding resources by the state as required and outlined in the ADA. Employers should, therefore, put in place measures and enact policies aimed at curbing discrimination at the workplace and offering a conducive working environment for those living with disabilities.

 Introduction

Americans with Disabilities Act

Americans with Disabilities Act enactment was in 1990. The Act, which is a civil rights law bars discrimination of people living with disabilities in all spheres of public life, which include schools, places of employment, and transportation, among other areas (Dinyari et al., 2014). The Act defines disability to include people who have either physical or mental impairment, limiting operations in their lives. Also, such conditions on disability ought to be on the record. The psychological or physical impairment includes a physiological disorder, neurological, respiratory, cardiovascular, reproductive, and skin, among others.

The Act aims at ensuring the disabled have an equal platform with other people in society. The disabled get accorded civil rights protections similar to protection to people discriminated based on their color, race, gender, and religion. Based on the amendments on the Act enacted in 2009, private companies with at least 15 employees, local and state government employment agencies, and labor unions have a responsibility in upholding the rights of the people living with disabilities in the society (Recupero & Harms, 2013).

Moreover, the Act does not outline the conditions viewed as a disability but covers the physical and mental impairments. Mental impairment includes intellectual disability, mental illness, and some learning disabilities. There are also medical conditions which c under the Disability Act. For instance, Diabetes, Cancer, Epilepsy, major depression disorder, Autism, Cerebral palsy, and HIV infection, among others (Spencer, 2009). As such, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission directs employers to adopt the accommodation advocated by the Act on people with disabilities.

SMC Incorporation

SMC Incorporated was created in the United States of America to assist in providing Assistive Technology (AT) for supporting the disabled persons in the organization and wounded service members in the courses of their duty (Choi, 2011). The organization should aim at offering accommodative terms, especially to those living with disabilities and advocating the same to other employers. SMC, Inc. targets ensuring employers understand the ADA and adhere to laws and regulatory guidance.  No adherence to the Act attracts adverse effects to the corporation. Assistive technology has been defined as any item, whether commercially acquired, modified, or customized at the workplace to enhance the functionality of individuals with disabilities. Its significant role includes ensuring people living with disabilities get the necessary enabling environment in the execution of their daily duties. Assistive technology acts as a means of accommodating people with disabilities (Choi, 2011).

SMC plays the advocates’ role by pushing for adoption of the ADA in its operations and by other employers. However, the incorporation has failed in its duty as an employer. The organization has not ensured the availability of aiding resources as required and outlined in the ADA.

           Background information

People living with disabilities

People living with disabilities got classified by the Survey of Income and Program Participation by the United States Census Bureau. Persons with a severe form of disability depend on assistive devices such as wheelchairs, walkers, and crutches on a long term basis to perform their daily duties. On the other hand, non-severe disability defines persons who have difficulties in performing functional activities in their daily living due to impairments, such as lack of seeing, hearing, incoherent speech, among other infirmities.

In the United States of America, there’s an estimated that approximately 53 million civilians live with a disability. About 24.1million people live with a severe form of disability, while 34.2 million people have a non-severe form of disability based on the United States of America Census report. The employment rate for people living with disabilities lies below that of the general population.  The low price of employment for those with disabilities is attributable to the perception that they cannot lift heavy loads, unlike the non-disabled.

Based on a working-age between 25 and 61 years, while 88 percent of the general population gets employed, only 34 percent of people with disabilities got employment opportunities. According to a survey by the National Organization on Disability on Americans living with Disabilities, the disabled get discriminated in employment. For instance, those between 18 and 64 years living with disabilities, 29 percent work on either full time or part-time basis as compared to 79 percent of those without disabilities.

Most of the disabled people in employment rarely utilize their potentials fully as a result of job mismatch. Instead of being in jobs based on their academic qualifications and experience, they get allocated lighter duties. Besides, more than half of the people living with disabilities survive an annual income of less than the US $15,000, while only a small fraction of the people living without disabilities. The key focus is also an awareness of the existence of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The National Health Interview Survey indicated that approximately a third of the total families living in the United States of America have disabilities (Gachichio, 2018).

Problem statement

This paper seeks to highlight and address SMC Incorporated noncompliance with the American Disabilities Act (ADA).

SMC noncompliance

There have been numerous complaints by employees living with disabilities at SMC Incorporation on the unfair treatment at the workplace. Discrimination occurs even at the Human Resources Department, which ordinarily should protect their rights in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. SMC’s noncompliance with the American with Disabilities Act includes discriminating on people wiling with disabilities at the workplace regarding aiding those with hearing and sight impairments (Townsend, 2009). For instance, SMC should ensure the procurement and installation of software that would assist the deaf and the blind in their communication at the workplace. Likewise, the organization failed to provide sign language interpreters during town hall meetings hence the impaired missing out on the information relayed at the meetings. Such treatment by SMC Incorporation is an infringement to the proponents of the Americans with Disabilities Act. These issues have negatively impacted the organization in several ways

Consequences of noncompliance with ADA

Lack of compliance by SMC Incorporated with Americans with Disabilities Act has various implications on the people living with disabilities.

Exposure to lawsuits

As a result of the noncompliance to ADA by SMC Inc., the organization significantly get exposed to lawsuits by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Lawsuits are costly to an organization in terms of the financial outlay required to meet the attorney’s fees and court fees. Secondly, the organization that exists for the sole purpose of making a profit and maximizing shareholders’ wealth could face revocation of its operating license. Such revocation would adversely affect its operation and generation of revenues.

Besides, there are lawsuits as a result of discriminating those living with disabilities at the workplace. They could be lengthy and consume much of the productive organizational time. Also, if proven before a court of law, would attract fines and penalties which have a significant implication on the financial position of the organization. The fines and penalties go up to $75,000 for the first violation and $150,000 for the subsequent breach. Also, the lawsuits adversely affect the reputation of the organization.  In terms of the services, it offers to the public. Those seeking employment may decline to work for the organization based on the publicly available information on its treatment of those living with disabilities at the workplace.

High turnover rates

Most employees discriminated against at the place of their work based on their physical impairment prefer to quit employment. SMC may incur institutional knowledge costs as a result of the employees’ departure. In a bid to fill the vacant position as a result of the employee turnover, SMC would incur recruitment costs such as recruiting agencies to carry out assessment tests, background checks, and the overall vetting of the candidate to determine their suitability in filing a particular post.

In their search for new hires, organizations might pay to post job listings, hire recruiters, sponsor events, establish partnerships, and offer referral bonuses. Assessment tests, background checks, and various travel expenses associated with vetting candidates can also increase costs. Besides, time is taken to fill the vacant position which on an average take 60 days raises an opportunity cost on time and resources of searching for a suitable candidate which would otherwise improve the productivity of the organization,

The duties of those who quit employment get lumped upon their colleagues. Due to the shortage in staffing, the few employees left get overworked, and much of the work is left undone. As a result, the morale of the employees goes down.  The decline is attributable to too much work allocated to them, which adversely affects their productivity and job satisfaction. Such a scenario could prompt for more turnovers, hence being costly for SMC. Additionally, training and onboarding the selected candidates increases operational costs and opportunity costs for the organization.

Low productivity

The employees living with a disability within SMC Inc. have reduced morale towards their duties as a result of a lack of support from the organization. Lack of hearing aids at the workplace, and software that can enable both the blind and deaf to execute their duties kill their morale. As a result, the employees with disabilities record high absenteeism as they feel not appreciated. Also, high absenteeism rates feature during meetings as SMC fails to facilitate their participation by providing sign interpreters and software that would enable then interact with the rest of the team. Besides, there’s increased lateness in reporting time as the affected lack motivation to report to work on time, thus wasting productivity time.

As a consequence, low morale leads to job dissatisfaction, which adversely affects their level of productivity. Reduced productivity by employees that hold key positions in the organization leads to declined overall performance and high operating costs. As such, the organization’s financial position gets threatened, which has a spill effect on the performance of the non-disabled employees.  Therefore, noncompliance by SMC Inc. to ADA has severe consequences on the overall productivity of the organization.

Importance of implementation of ADA

            Those living with disabilities form part of the untapped market in terms of knowledge and skills required at the workplace. Based on the United States Department of Labor, people living with disabilities have immense spending power. Therefore the implementation of ADA by organizations builds loyalty among people with disabilities and has a positive impact on the performance of a company as well as its reputation (Madaus, 2008).

Currently, ADA has assisted approximately 53 million Americans living with disabilities (Gachichio, 2018). For instance, in most stadiums, meetings get conducted orally with sign interpreters and in print. There has been a reasonable accommodation in telecommunication for deaf and blind people, which include captioning on televisions. More employment opportunities have been made available for those living with disabilities with a noted improvement in the last 25 years. It’s been more comfortable for people with disabilities to access buildings, get promotions at their place of work, and earn wages on par with the non-disabled.

                                                                  Shortcomings of ADA   

            Some of the conditions put forward as a disability could function normally. Whether slightly disabled or severely disabled, all are entitled to the same benefits. The increased number of people recorded as living with disabilities strain not only those with severe disabilities but also the businesses. For instance, a person with squint eyes gets the same treatment as a blind person.

The implementation of ADA significantly affects the financial position of any business entity. Although businesses can receive an exemption on complying with ADA, the exception only applies to extreme cases such as undue hardship. As such, companies have to comply with ADA at their own expense. Besides, the software, materials, and tools customized to facilitate the operations of people living with disabilities are quite costly. In return, the net income of such organizations gets minimized.

Recommendations

            Despite having ADA, people living with disabilities face numerous challenges and impediments to economic security. The situation will only improve when those charged with the responsibility of ensuring reasonable accommodations, guarantee access to such services.

Review of SMC mission and vision statement

The human resources department at SMC should review its mission and vision to ensure the organization recognizes and incorporates the employees living with a disability (Weiss, 2015). They should also provide the creation of awareness across the organization with a close focus on those charged with the responsibilities of enforcing the organizational strategic plans. As such departmental heads evaluation should be the extent of implementation of the organization’s objectives towards protecting those living with disabilities. The Human resources department should periodically review the issues facing the organization in a bid to ensure a conducive working environment (Martell & Carroll, 1995).

The human resources department should evaluate the tools and materials required by employees living with disabilities in executing their daily duties (Martell & Carroll, 1995). Supply of the tools necessary saves the organization from loss of man-hours, which directly impacts on the productivity of the organization. For instance, lack of hearing and sign interpretations software for a customer service employee would lead to reduced productivity due to impaired communication with stakeholders.

The human resource department should operate an open-door policy to ensure any grievance noted in the course of employees executing their duties gets escalated upwards for addressing. The chain of command should also outline those responsible for resolving any conflicts or grievances at the workplace. Such clear policies ensure reduced turnaround time in offering reasonable accommodations to the employees living with disabilities. The management should rely on the recommendations from experts on persons living with disabilities to ensure the implementation of the best solution.

Financial aid

Implementation of Americans with Disability Act can be costly to an organization. As such, SMC should seek grants to enable it to acquire the tools and materials required by its employees with disabilities. Such assistance could be from the manufacturers who choose to donate the customized machines to the organization. Alternatively, there are charitable organizations such as Marriot International who would be willing to assist upon assessment of the need financially.

Performance measurement

SMC could employ performance measurement tools such as a balanced scorecard to evaluate its overall performance. The balanced scorecard contains measures such as financials, customer perspective, learning and growth, and internal business processes. The financial perspective indicates the financial position of the organization as a result of the revenue generated from operations. It’s an indicator of employee productivity. A decline in financials is an indicator of low productivity, and as such, an in-depth audit of the cause significantly identifies the underlying causes. The reason could be job dissatisfaction by employees with disabilities.

The customer perspective indicates how well the company’s clients get satisfied with their services. In most cases, the company collects such information through customer feedback in a bid to establish its Net Promoter Score and the customer satisfaction index. A low score would indicate poor service by the company whose root cause could be attributable to a lack of reasonable accommodations such as hearing aids and sign interpreters by SMC to employees with disabilities.

The effectiveness of internal processes in an organization is critical in achieving its objectives. For instance, a low score in rating the internal processes by the employees is an indicator of failed operations. The cause could be a lack of departmental heads addressing challenges that employees, especially at SMC, those living with disabilities. It would, therefore, act as a guide to the human resources department to ensure the grievances by the employees get acted upon by those responsible.

Ethical standards

            Ethical standards should be the guiding principle of any organization. Therefore, SMC should be at the forefront of promoting fairness, trust, and kindness in the organization. In as much a particular standard cut across all the businesses, SMC should develop measures that guide it in being fair and considerate to the employees with disability by providing reasonable accommodations for them.

Acquisition of the required tools and materials

            The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission advocates various ways of accommodating employees with disabilities at the workplace. The approaches include modification of job application processes to ensure those living with disabilities get a fair chance of being shortlisted for the job. Secondly, adjustment of the work environment enables those with disabilities as mobility problems to navigate easily within the buildings. Such reasonable accommodations would include rumps. A friendly working environment allows those living with disabilities to execute their duties without any limitation. Thirdly, creating an environment that enables people with disabilities to have equal benefits as the non-disabled to reduce discrimination at the workplace.

SMC should, therefore, adhere to the policies accommodating the employees with disabilities by adopting the right Information Technology that can assist those physically impaired I executing their duties. The users should also get trained on the usage of the tools. Reasonable accommodations include the installation of customized machines in consultations with the users. The discussions ensure the needs of the end-users get met. SMC should also hire professional sign language interpreters in large numbers to ensure sufficient communication during meetings.

Those with visual impairment require accommodation through the installation of next-generation computers. The computers have applications that aid them in giving braille output after reading the content available on the machine. Some apps have a sound translation that promotes communication for visually impaired individuals. Some screens that aid in magnifying images such as Magic and Zoom text could be installed to enable the visually impaired communicate.

Conclusion

SMC, Inc., in the course of its operations, should comply with the provision of ADA by providing its employees with reasonable accommodations. SMC Incorporated should, therefore, ensure those living with disabilities get equal treatment during the selection and placement period by the Human resources Department. The employee’s complaints about the poor working environment could adversely affect the operations of SMC. As a result, the organization should ensure proper machines and technology get adopted to aid both the deaf and the visually impaired in the performance of their duties. The management through the human resources department should review the company policies to accommodate the needs of the employees living with disabilities.

The company should employ sign interpreters to make it easy for the deaf to participate in the organization’s meetings as well as communicating with colleagues. On the same note, those visually impaired should be aided to perform their daily chores through the provision of next-generation computers, which have user-friendly programs for the visually impaired. Just like the non-disabled within the organization, people living with disabilities contribute significantly to the overall objective of the organization. As such, their needs should continually be evaluated to ensure job satisfaction.

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