CRC Exam (Certified Rehabilitation Counselor) — All Questions

A VR business consultant meets with a hospital's hiring manager to learn its staffing shortages while also advancing the goals of job seekers on her caseload. This reflects which service concept?

• a.The medical model of disability
• b.The order of selection
• c.The dual-customer approach✓
• d.The comparable benefits search

The CRCC 2021 JTA Domain 8.F names the dual customer role (employer and person with a disability), and the RSA program description notes that VR agencies engage with employers as well as individuals to increase job opportunities. The medical model is a view of disability, order of selection is a VR prioritization rule, and comparable benefits is a VR funding rule.

An employee tells her supervisor, "I keep missing the start of my shift because of my dialysis appointments." She never mentions the ADA. According to EEOC guidance, what is this?

• a.An informal complaint that requires no response
• b.A request for reasonable accommodation✓
• c.Not a request, because she did not use legal terms
• d.A request for FMLA leave only

EEOC guidance states that to request accommodation, an individual may use 'plain English' and need not mention the ADA or use the phrase 'reasonable accommodation'; telling a supervisor about trouble arriving on time because of medical treatment is the guidance's own example of a request. The employer cannot treat it as requiring no response, and whether FMLA also applies does not change the ADA obligation.

An employee who is deaf requests a sign language interpreter for all meetings. The employer proposes real-time captioning instead, and both options would be effective. What does EEOC guidance say?

• a.The employer must provide the option the employee prefers
• b.The employer must prove the interpreter is an undue hardship
• c.The employer must provide both options to avoid liability
• d.The employer may choose between effective accommodations✓

EEOC guidance states that the individual's preference should be given primary consideration, but the employer has the ultimate discretion to choose between effective accommodations and may choose the less expensive or easier one without showing undue hardship. Neither the preference rule nor undue hardship requires providing the preferred or both options.

An employee with a new disability can no longer perform an essential function of her current job, and no accommodation would allow her to do so. What does EEOC guidance say about reassignment?

• a.It is required first, before any accommodation in her current job is even considered
• b.It is the accommodation of last resort, to a vacant position she is qualified for✓
• c.It is never required, since the employer may simply terminate her employment
• d.It requires the employer to create a new position matching her medical restrictions

EEOC guidance calls reassignment the reasonable accommodation of last resort, required only when no effective accommodation would let the employee perform the essential functions of her current job or all others would be an undue hardship, and it applies to a vacant position for which she is qualified. It is not the first step, it is required absent undue hardship, and it does not require creating a new job.

An employer says a $4,000 accommodation is an undue hardship. A CRC points out that outside funding would cover half the cost. Under 29 CFR 1630.2(p), how is the cost factor evaluated?

• a.By the full purchase price before any outside funding is applied
• b.By comparison with the salary of the employee who needs it
• c.By the net cost after tax credits, deductions, and outside funding✓
• d.By whether the cost exceeds a fixed limit set in the ADA

29 CFR 1630.2(p)(2)(i) lists the nature and net cost of the accommodation, taking into consideration the availability of tax credits and deductions and/or outside funding, as the first undue-hardship factor, alongside the resources of the facility and the covered entity. The regulation does not use gross cost, compare cost to salary, or set a fixed dollar ceiling.

An employer wants to exclude an applicant with epilepsy from a forklift job as a 'direct threat.' Under 29 CFR 1630.2(r), the determination must rest on:

• a.An individualized assessment of his present ability to work safely✓
• b.General statistics about seizure risk for all people with epilepsy
• c.The employer's insurance carrier's standard list of excluded conditions
• d.Coworkers' stated worries about working near the applicant

29 CFR 1630.2(r) defines direct threat as a significant risk of substantial harm that cannot be eliminated or reduced by reasonable accommodation, based on an individualized assessment of present ability to safely perform essential functions using reasonable medical judgment and the best available objective evidence, considering duration, nature and severity, likelihood, and imminence of harm. Generalizations, insurer lists, and coworker fears are not individualized assessments.

A manufacturer asks a CRC to help design a registered apprenticeship for workers with disabilities. Under 29 CFR 29.5, a registered program must combine on-the-job learning with which component?

• a.A guaranteed permanent job at the end of training
• b.An unpaid probationary period before any wages
• c.Organized related instruction in technical subjects✓
• d.A four-year college degree in the chosen trade

29 CFR 29.5 requires program standards to include an outline of supervised on-the-job work processes and provision for organized, related instruction in technical subjects, with a minimum of 144 hours per year recommended. The standards do not guarantee permanent employment, call for an unpaid probation, or require a college degree.

An employee returns from an on-the-job back injury, and the employer wants to ask her questions about her condition. According to EEOC guidance on workers' compensation and the ADA, when may it do so?

• a.At any time, because an occupational injury waives her rights under the ADA
• b.Only if her physician first agrees in writing that questions may be asked
• c.Never, because disability-related questions of employees are always illegal
• d.If job-related, consistent with business necessity, and limited in scope✓

EEOC's workers' compensation guidance states that an employer may make disability-related inquiries or require medical examinations of an employee with an occupational injury, or one returning to work, provided they are job-related and consistent with business necessity and limited to what is needed to assess the injury's effect on the job. An occupational injury does not waive ADA protections, no physician consent step exists, and such questions are not categorically barred.