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Show 46 __ Independent Contractors
Andy Winnegar discusses the special status of independent contractions with it comes to getting accommodations and assistive technology under the ADA.
You're listening to the Disability Law Lowdown podcast, show number 46.
Jacquie Brennan: And we’re really happy to be joined today by Andy Winnegar. He’s going to talk to you about job accommodation and assistive technology for independent contractors. He’ll discuss the special status of independent contractors when it comes to getting accommodations and assistive technology under the ADA.
[music plays]
Andy Winnegar: This podcast is on independent contractors, job accommodations and assistive technology. My name is Andy Winnegar.
Today I want to talk about independent contractors and their access to assistive technology and job accommodations working for employers or working within subcontracting situations as contract employees.
In New Mexico we have a unique State Use Act. There’s many State Use Acts throughout the country that cover nonprofit organizations for contracting with public entities, state governments, city governments and the like. In New Mexico, the Act passed in 2004 gives access to individual contractors, individuals with disabilities, small businesses run by people with disabilities, to public contracting for services.
This opens up a lot of economic opportunity for independent contractors to work for public entities, perhaps a photographer working for a public school doing publications or someone providing front desk service for someone needing a receptionist on a contract basis. Just an array of different contracting opportunities are available and it’s overseen by what’s called a State Purchasing Council from Persons with Disabilities. I’ve served as the chair of that Council since 2005.
Recently, in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, an independent contractor who was let go from his position due to sickle cell anemia, sued and won in the courts which indicated that they were substantiating his claim that he was discriminated against under Section 504 and should have not been fired. Although that ruling is limited to the Ninth Circuit, the accommodations for individuals with disabilities now, as far as independent contractors, really opens up and we can look at how these work accommodations can be applied to the greater population of small business people much greater, even, then the employment of people with disabilities in the workplace, working for traditional employers as employees. The independent contractor holds a lot of economic opportunity, of course, throughout the country.
So, looking at these accommodations and how to access them outside of the courts is what we’re going to talk about today. Generally, as an independent contractor, you bring your own tools, of course you bring your wheelchair to any setting and many of the work accommodations as documented by the JAN network are not expensive for employers. However, when we get beyond assistive technologies such as Naturally Speaking where you can enter your keyboard entry information with your voice into a computer, you don’t really have those types of accessing opportunities when you’re programming as an independent contractor perhaps for a network or moving into some kind of location, a warehouse, or many of the different independent contracting situations where there would be no public access to these facilities and little reason without a person with a disability working there to make the situation accessible. So, as we move in as independent contractors, perhaps as a blind independent contractor or someone with mobility problems, we need to figure out access routes for this new opportunity.
Let’s go over some of those problems that we might encounter. I just stated the information processing has always been a difficult thing for accessibility and assistive technologies really haven’t addressed getting into these complex networks that have been established. Oracle is one of the big ones and all these multilayered databases where accessibility access is really in and we have a lot of work to do. Also with kiosks and other electronic solutions for accessing information quickly, accessibility has not always been applied. That would be an area to look at addressing.
Of course, limitations in sight provide us with many challenges, especially in the independent contractor environment where you’re going to various situations rather than staying in a static employment environment. Also, limitations in hearing and deafness, of course, stamina issues, reaching, carrying, lifting, manipulating, difficulties in staying in a confined space, sitting for long periods of time, all of these general accommodation issues that most employees have had to deal with and employers have addressed somewhat need to be now looked at for the independent contractor.
So, even though New Mexico is a little bit ahead of the curve as far as providing a preference for independent contractors for persons with disabilities, we have a long way to go regarding how to address these unique contractor environments and accommodations.
[music plays]
Jacquie Brennan: Thanks again, Andy. That was really wonderful.
The Disability Law Lowdown is brought to you by the Disability Business Technical Assistance Centers, which are a network of ADA centers that provide training, technical assistance and materials on the ADA and other disability related laws. Funding for the Centers is provided by a grant from NIDRR, the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. You can subscribe to the Disability Law Lowdown at our website at disabilitylawlowdown.com or on iTunes.
The Southwest and Rocky Mountain ADA Centers are part of a program of Independent Living Research Utilization at TIRR - Memorial Hermann in Houston, Texas, and is funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. If you have questions about disability law or would like to request materials or training, please call 1-800-949-4232. This podcast is protected by the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No-Derivative-Works 2.5 License. For more information and transcripts, visit www.ada-podcast.com.
Jacquie Brennan: And we’re really happy to be joined today by Andy Winnegar. He’s going to talk to you about job accommodation and assistive technology for independent contractors. He’ll discuss the special status of independent contractors when it comes to getting accommodations and assistive technology under the ADA.
[music plays]
Andy Winnegar: This podcast is on independent contractors, job accommodations and assistive technology. My name is Andy Winnegar.
Today I want to talk about independent contractors and their access to assistive technology and job accommodations working for employers or working within subcontracting situations as contract employees.
In New Mexico we have a unique State Use Act. There’s many State Use Acts throughout the country that cover nonprofit organizations for contracting with public entities, state governments, city governments and the like. In New Mexico, the Act passed in 2004 gives access to individual contractors, individuals with disabilities, small businesses run by people with disabilities, to public contracting for services.
This opens up a lot of economic opportunity for independent contractors to work for public entities, perhaps a photographer working for a public school doing publications or someone providing front desk service for someone needing a receptionist on a contract basis. Just an array of different contracting opportunities are available and it’s overseen by what’s called a State Purchasing Council from Persons with Disabilities. I’ve served as the chair of that Council since 2005.
Recently, in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, an independent contractor who was let go from his position due to sickle cell anemia, sued and won in the courts which indicated that they were substantiating his claim that he was discriminated against under Section 504 and should have not been fired. Although that ruling is limited to the Ninth Circuit, the accommodations for individuals with disabilities now, as far as independent contractors, really opens up and we can look at how these work accommodations can be applied to the greater population of small business people much greater, even, then the employment of people with disabilities in the workplace, working for traditional employers as employees. The independent contractor holds a lot of economic opportunity, of course, throughout the country.
So, looking at these accommodations and how to access them outside of the courts is what we’re going to talk about today. Generally, as an independent contractor, you bring your own tools, of course you bring your wheelchair to any setting and many of the work accommodations as documented by the JAN network are not expensive for employers. However, when we get beyond assistive technologies such as Naturally Speaking where you can enter your keyboard entry information with your voice into a computer, you don’t really have those types of accessing opportunities when you’re programming as an independent contractor perhaps for a network or moving into some kind of location, a warehouse, or many of the different independent contracting situations where there would be no public access to these facilities and little reason without a person with a disability working there to make the situation accessible. So, as we move in as independent contractors, perhaps as a blind independent contractor or someone with mobility problems, we need to figure out access routes for this new opportunity.
Let’s go over some of those problems that we might encounter. I just stated the information processing has always been a difficult thing for accessibility and assistive technologies really haven’t addressed getting into these complex networks that have been established. Oracle is one of the big ones and all these multilayered databases where accessibility access is really in and we have a lot of work to do. Also with kiosks and other electronic solutions for accessing information quickly, accessibility has not always been applied. That would be an area to look at addressing.
Of course, limitations in sight provide us with many challenges, especially in the independent contractor environment where you’re going to various situations rather than staying in a static employment environment. Also, limitations in hearing and deafness, of course, stamina issues, reaching, carrying, lifting, manipulating, difficulties in staying in a confined space, sitting for long periods of time, all of these general accommodation issues that most employees have had to deal with and employers have addressed somewhat need to be now looked at for the independent contractor.
So, even though New Mexico is a little bit ahead of the curve as far as providing a preference for independent contractors for persons with disabilities, we have a long way to go regarding how to address these unique contractor environments and accommodations.
[music plays]
Jacquie Brennan: Thanks again, Andy. That was really wonderful.
The Disability Law Lowdown is brought to you by the Disability Business Technical Assistance Centers, which are a network of ADA centers that provide training, technical assistance and materials on the ADA and other disability related laws. Funding for the Centers is provided by a grant from NIDRR, the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. You can subscribe to the Disability Law Lowdown at our website at disabilitylawlowdown.com or on iTunes.
The Southwest and Rocky Mountain ADA Centers are part of a program of Independent Living Research Utilization at TIRR - Memorial Hermann in Houston, Texas, and is funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. If you have questions about disability law or would like to request materials or training, please call 1-800-949-4232. This podcast is protected by the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No-Derivative-Works 2.5 License. For more information and transcripts, visit www.ada-podcast.com.
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