Alaska Airlines
Effective Accommodation Strategies
 Alaska
Airlines was founded in Anchorage in 1932 and expanded to 22 aircraft
operating within the state by 1934. In the late 70s, the airline began
expansion to the lower Western states and by 1987 had acquired Horizon
Air and Jet America bolstering its North South route structure and
complementing the seasonal nature of travel to Alaska.
Today Alaska Airlines has grown from a small
regional airline to a route system spanning more than 40 cities and
three countries. It currently carries more than 12 million customers per
year and has consistently earned best airline recognition from magazines
such as Travel and Leisure and Condé Nast Traveler.
Disability Services Management Personnel Interviewed: Ms. Donna Egeland,
Manager, Workers’ Compensation, Disability Accommodations; Ms. Voshte
Demmert, Disability Accommodations Supervisor; Ms. Sandy Voigt, Workers’
Compensation Specialist
Personnel involved in the Disability Services Management program include
the manager who specializes in educational programming to include the
Americans with Disabilities Act and managing the Workers' Compensation
program, an accommodations specialist, a workers' compensation
specialist, and considerable time investment from a Family Medical Leave
Act specialist (technically assigned to Employee Benefits). For purposes
of workers' compensation coverage, Alaska Airlines is obviously insured
in all states. It is self-insured in Washington and Alaska. The company
self selects its vocational rehabilitation counselors in providing
workers' compensation case management / rehabilitation services in the
state of Washington. In Alaska, employees with disability are matched by
a random assignment process to vocational service agents. However,
Alaska Airlines has hired professional rehabilitation counselors to
monitor progress and intervention with the workers' compensation service
agents who have been assigned its employees.
Procedurally, an employee who has a disability and desires a disability
accommodation receives a formal disability accommodation request form
from an accommodations specialist. The specialist reviews a standard
checklist to ensure that the necessary medical information is there,
that the individual has a qualifying disability, and other informational
points needed to provide the necessary accommodation is present. Ongoing
contact is maintained with the employee after receipt of the
accommodation request. The accommodation specialist meets with the
employee and generally a union representation (five unions are
represented throughout Alaska Airlines). In a second meeting, a
frontline manager or line supervisor is brought in to further discuss
accommodation options. It should be noted that the accommodation
specialist handles a caseload of 35-40 accommodation requests at any one
time. Every accommodation request is reviewed with the Job Accommodation
Network (JAN) at the West Virginia Rehabilitation Research and Training
Center in order to explore all available options. Most requests for
accommodations are currently coming from reservations specialists
(probably due to postural and ergonomic demands), customer service
agents (due to physical demands of baggage transition--although this is
decreasing because many physical activities have been assumed by the
governmental security agency), and ramp service agents.
It should be noted that once the accommodation request is entered into
the database, meetings with supervision and employees are continuous
until an accommodation is made or another action needs to be taken.
Reassignment is also a possibility and each person requiring
reassignment is sent a list of all lateral jobs in the company and
requested to check those jobs which they have an interest. Some
individuals are sent to Alaska Airline's Career Assessment unit for
vocational assessment, this can be outsourced if necessary. Job analyses
have been done for each physically demanding job by an external
rehabilitation counseling company. Following career assessment,
retraining may be an option in areas such as customer service
specialist, flight attendant, or reservations. For a worker with
disability onset, there is an aggressive effort made to maintain the
individual on a job in their own work unit or in the company. If
accommodations cannot be made, an individual may go on sick leave,
followed by short term disability, in conjunction with an extended
medical leave (based on the Railway Labor Act collective bargaining
agreement, for a period of 4-10 years). While on medical leave, although
not on salary, they maintain their seniority and potential for rehire.
External consultation is quite common, particularly in relation to
utilization of an ergonomics specialist. There has also been an effort
to provide career mobility for personnel such as reservation agents with
blindness. External contractors specializing in blindness have been
utilized in order to brainstorm/improve accommodations that would enable
upward mobility for individuals with significant sight impairments.
Since the accommodations specialist position was created approximately
two years ago, people are being referred more efficiently and job site
intervention is occurring more rapidly. A significant effort is also
being made to positively resolve the status of those remaining on the
medical leave list.
Before accommodation offers are made in writing, the employee is
informed about the accommodation options being offered. The effort is to
maintain clear and open communication with personnel and union
representatives. There is a constant effort to both accommodate workers
with disabilities while still requiring accountability for the same
essential functional demands of the job as with other employees. Claims
staffing is done in person or by conference calls to appropriate
frontline management representative(s), the accommodations specialist,
Family Medical Leave Act expert, and the workers' compensation
specialist. There has also been an effort to increase disability
accommodation training, workers' compensation procedures, the Family
Medical Leave Act, and other relevant topics for supervisory personnel
at all Alaska Airlines sites by the manager of the Disability
Accommodations Department.
Unique Best Practices
- The creation of the accommodations
specialist appears optimal, providing both more immediate intervention
and streamlined referral procedures.
- Employees are more empowered by having
an accommodations request sheet and appreciate the responsivity and
follow up from the Disability Accommodations unit.
- The use of W.Va. University Job
Accommodation Network as a standard of intervention practice on each
accommodation case is laudatory, as is detailed documentation of these
efforts.
- This unit is very effective given the
complex extended medical leave procedures that exist in the airline
industry and the fact that in the past, workers with disabilities have
gotten lost in the medical leave process for extended time periods. A
definitive effort is being made to clarify every individual's viable
work status and improve engagement with the company.
- From a policy perspective, there
appears to be a concerted effort at Alaska Airlines to be accessible
and accommodating, while yet being candid as to the need for basic
productivity needs of the company and essential job functions that
must be performed. Alaska Airlines received the 2001 Outstanding
Employer Award from the International Association of Rehabilitation
Professionals (IARP) in recognition of the airline's proactive
employment programs for workers injured on the job and with
disabilities.
Other Case
Studies
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