[blindlaw] Reduced Billable Hour Requirement as an ADA accommodation

[James Fetter]

Michal,
I would have to look into the cases concerning law firms or similar businesses with billable hour requirements. I don’t see why the logic of ADA cases and regs, which do require employers to be open to a certain amount of rearrangement of job functions, would not apply to billable hour requirements. So on paper, there might be a case to be made here. Of course, the firm would argue that meeting the billable hour requirement was an essential job function, and I don’t see too many federal judges, especially those coming out of big law, disagreeing.
Regardless, I would be extremely hesitant to try to make that case. Far too many firms are already skittish about hiring us, either because their document management systems are inaccessible or because of ableist assumptions about our productivity. Requesting a reduction in billable hours would raise a huge red flag. The harsh reality is that most of us will simply have to work harder, and potentially put in longer hours, than our sighted peers to get, and keep, good legal jobs.
  

Sent from my iPhone

> On Sep 19, 2018, at 2:37 PM, Michal Nowicki via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi Everyone,
> 
> During last week’s conference call on job interview tips for blind attorneys, I brought up the subject of meeting billable hour requirements as a blind attorney. I now have a follow-up question on that topic. Given the fact that we often need more time to complete some tasks than our sighted colleagues due to access barriers, assistive technology limitations, etc., and that it would be unethical to bill clients for this extra time, does requesting a reasonable reduction in the annual billable hour requirement (e.g., from 2,000 to 1,800 hours) qualify as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA and/or similar disability rights laws? Is there any on-point authority? Any guidance on this issue would be greatly appreciated, as I want to do transactional work, most of which is still done on a billable hour basis.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Michal
> 
> Sent from Mail for Windows 10
> 
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