Help Wanted: Finding work-at-home jobs

DEAR CARRIE: I am a 62-year-old employee of a technology-manufacturing firm. I suffer from a chronic disease that within the past two years has caused my eyesight to deteriorate. The process is accelerating, so I may have only a few months until I am unable to drive. I still commute to work, and I also have to travel as part of the job. I do not believe my employer will reassign me to other duties that don't require driving.

My question is this: How do I find out about work-at-home jobs that I might be able to qualify for? I have experience in sales, customer and technical support. And computer work and writing skills are a part of my duties. I need to find another job because my financial responsibilities probably rule out early retirement.  -- Disability Quandary

DEAR DISABILITY: You need to do your homework because while some work-at-home companies are legitimate, others are not. The New York State Attorney General's Office suggests that you check with a local Better Business Bureau for any complaints about a company you are considering. And the AG's office also recommends that you be wary of workers' testimonials and companies' overstated claims of earnings potential. Find more work-at-home advice from the AG's office on Newsday.com.

Regarding your disability, my first thought after reading your letter was whether your company has to provide you an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, such as modifying the way your job is performed. The answer depends on how essential driving is to the job and whether any accommodation would prove a hardship for the company.

"Under the ADA, an employer may require that an employee drive as long as such a standard is job-related and consistent with business necessity," said Elizabeth Grossman, regional attorney in the New York district office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The ADA looks at a specific position and not simply a classification or job title to determine what function is essential for a job, Grossman said.

"For example, driving could be an essential function for a person whose job requires that he or she deliver material," Grossman said. "This is especially true where others load and unload the material, and this individual's function is simply to drive the truck to make the delivery."

On the other hand, "driving may not be an essential function for an engineer who must inspect various equipment. Engineers generally may drive themselves, but the essential function is to inspect. Driving is incidental to this job function -- the means to get to the site where equipment needs to be inspected."

So she said, "All reasonable accommodations need to be evaluated in terms of their effectiveness in enabling an individual to perform the essential functions of the position and whether they would cause an undue hardship to the employer."

One exception to an accommodation is your travel to and from work.

"The Americans with Disabilities Act does not require an employer to provide assistance in regard to transportation to and from work as a form of reasonable accommodation," Grossman said. "Rather, it is the employee's responsibility to arrange how he or she will get to and from work."

For more on the Americans With Disabilities Act, go to http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/ada.cfm.

For tips on evaluating work-at-home companies, go to http://www.ag.ny.gov/media_center/2003/apr/apr14a_03.html.