State Fair Employment Act (Wis. Stat. § 111.32): An individual with a disability:
Divisional Disability Representative (DDR): Each dean/director has appointed a DDR to respond to disability-related employment matters in the workplace. DDRs are responsible for making decisions regarding requests for disability accommodation and medical leave.
Contact information for DDRs is available online.
Employee Disability Resources (EDR) Office: The EDR Office serves as the campus-wide hub for information on the disability accommodation process for employees and job applicants. It offers essential information, consultation, education and referral services to employees, job applicants, DDRs, supervisors, and others at any point in the accommodation process to ensure compliance with federal/state laws and university policy and to help minimize barriers in the workplace.
Contact information:
Employee Disability Resources (EDR) Office
186 Bascom Hall
608-263-2407 or employee.access@wisc.edu
ADA Coordinator: The Chancellor has appointed the ADA Coordinator to be responsible for campus-wide compliance with the ADA. The ADA Coordinator reviews appeals of disability accommodation decisions.
Contact information:
Office of Compliance
361 Bascom Hall
608-265-4508, or ada_coordinator@wisc.edu
compliance.wisc.edu/ada/
Employees will be informed about their right to request reasonable accommodations:
An employee may elect to request accommodations informally or formally. Employees are encouraged to use informal procedures whenever possible.
To request an accommodation informally, a university staff member discusses the need for accommodation with their immediate supervisor, principal investigator, department chair, program director, or DDR. The employee or employing unit may contact Employee Disability Resources for advice and information without initiating formal accommodation procedures.
If an informal request is approved, the department or unit should inform the DDR. The DDR will report the accommodation to Employee Disability Resources using the University Staff Disability Accommodation Request Form. The completed form may be submitted without identifying the employee’s name or disability.
If the department or unit wishes to modify or deny an informal request, or the issues are not straightforward, the formal process should be used.
Formal procedures should be used when accommodation issues are complex, when a department wishes to modify or deny an informal request for accommodation, or when informal procedures have been exhausted.
To request an accommodation formally, a university staff member submits a University Staff Disability Accommodation Request Form to their DDR.
An employee may be required to provide verification of a disability and accommodation recommendations from a treating specialist. The employee must bear the initial cost of verification. (This may be covered by the employee’s health insurance.) If UW-Madison requests a second opinion, the university will bear the cost.
NOTE: All medical information obtained throughout the determination process is considered a “confidential medical record.” It must be solicited and received by the DDR, who will provide only information about necessary restrictions and accommodations to managers and supervisors. All medical information and the completed University Staff Disability Accommodation Request Form will be kept by the DDR in the division’s confidential medical records files, separate from personnel records.
All applicants who are invited for interviews will be informed of the UW-Madison policy to provide reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities. They will be informed that they can request accommodations for interviews and how to make the request.
Financial responsibility for providing reasonable accommodations (other than barrier removal projects) belongs to the employing unit. If the employing unit does not have the financial resources to provide reasonable accommodations from its own budget, the dean or director of the school/college/division should be consulted.
Applicants do not have access to this process but may follow external complaint procedures (Wisconsin Workforce Development, Equal Rights Division; federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission).
An employee who disagrees with a disability accommodation request decision may appeal the decision using the following procedure.
Nothing in this policy should be construed to impede or prohibit a timely filing of a discrimination complaint with the appropriate external government agency (Wisconsin Workforce Development, Equal Rights Division; federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission). This procedure also does not prohibit a timely filing of an internal discrimination complaint, unrelated to a request for an accommodation, with Employee Disability Resources.
02-20-1996, 02-11-1999, 05-13-2005, 02-15-2013, 04-02-2026