ACCOMMODATING CLAIMS OF DISABILITY - THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF ABUSES

The potential impact of employee abuses of the Americans with Disabili ties Act of 1990 on employer judgements and behaviors is explored. A m odel depicting the process underlying managerial judgments about emplo yee requests for accommodation is presented. It is proposed that indiv iduals will attribute accommodation requests to disability or to a mot ive to deceive. This attribution process impacts perceptions of the de gree of reasonableness of an accommodation. Attributions to deception and perceptions of unreasonableness of an accommodation request will c ontribute to perceived violations of the employer-employee psychologic al contract. This private judgment process will culminate in the short term and public judgment of whether accommodation will be made. In th e longer run, violations of the psychological contract will impact the quality of the manager and employee relationship and increase the man ager's tendency to attribute accommodation requests to a motive to dec eive.