Editing Herzing Issues: ADA and Disability Accommodations (section)

=== HU-193: Herzing directed the reporting student to sign up for a 6-hour make-up clinical shift to cover 3 missed V-Sim hours ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%"
! style="width:14em" | Severity
| High
! Status
| CONFIRMED. The exchange is documented in the parties' own written emails
|-
! Issue type
| Open Ended Make Up Hours Requirement Tied to a Disability Accommodation; Uncredited Hours Risk; Inconsistent Instructions
! Date added
| 2026-08-10
|-
! Owner
| colspan="3" | Heather Gregg (Clinical II faculty) / Dr. Raywattie Prashad (Program Chair) / Dr. Rachel Powell (Director of Clinical Placement and Compliance)
|}
'''Finding.''' Heather Gregg emailed the reporting student stating that Dr. Prashad had confirmed she could send him a link to sign up for additional clinical hours to supplement three missed V-Sim hours, that he should register for a six-hour shift but attend for three hours, and that Dr. Prashad would discuss further details at an already scheduled meeting. Approximately two hours later, Dr. Gregg sent a correction stating she had misread Dr. Prashad's note, which actually said the reporting student may have to stay longer than three hours depending on the case, and apologized for the confusion. The reporting student responded that he would do his best to finish in three hours, since that is the number of hours he actually needs, but stated he would be unable to stay late unless he received credit for every hour attended, and that he is not required to attend hours beyond what the term requires. He explained that while students are traditionally asked to stay late at clinicals even after completing their hours, his situation differs because the extra hours exist specifically due to a disability accommodation, and that disability accommodations cannot create additional burdens on the student who requested them. He proposed that if he exceeded the required hours for the semester, the excess should be credited toward the following semester, and offered an alternative of ending his last clinical week three hours early instead, noting that would require coordination with Dr. Rachel Powell. Dr. Prashad responded that the make-up would remain within his accommodations because virtual patient care does not end at a fixed time, so the session could run under or over three hours, and that if it ran long he would still finish before 2 PM with built-in breaks. The reporting student replied that this response did not address his core point: that unlike every other student, who attended a fixed start and end time with no possibility of running over, he alone faced an open-ended time commitment specifically because he required a disability accommodation, and that any hours beyond the required total needed to be documented and credited toward his 585-hour program requirement rather than treated as an unpaid extension of his obligation. He stated that requiring him to potentially work additional undocumented hours, when no other student who attended the original session had that open-ended requirement, itself constitutes an additional burden imposed because he sought an accommodation. He reiterated in a follow-up message that he was willing to stay late but only if every hour was documented toward his required total, comparing an uncredited extension to being asked to work without being credited or paid for it.

'''Evidence.''' Email, Heather Gregg to the reporting student, August 3, 2026 (register for a six-hour shift, attend for three hours, per Dr. Prashad). Email, Heather Gregg, August 4, 2026, 10:50 AM (correction: Dr. Prashad's note said the reporting student may have to stay longer than three hours). Email, the reporting student, August 4, 2026 (objection that he will attend three hours, is not required to attend more, and that any additional time must be credited toward his 585-hour total; proposal to instead end his final clinical week three hours early). Email, Dr. Raywattie Prashad, August 4, 2026 (response that virtual patient care does not end at a fixed time and that accommodations will still be met if the session runs past three hours). Email, the reporting student, August 4, 2026 (reply that no other student who attended the original session faced an open-ended time commitment, that this open-endedness is itself a burden tied to his accommodation, and that any additional hours must be documented and credited toward his required total). Follow-up email, the reporting student, same date (restating willingness to stay late conditioned on every hour being credited). (Source Group: email thread, subject "V-Sim Make Up," between Heather Gregg, Dr. Raywattie Prashad, and the reporting student, cc ADA, Dr. Danielle Laban, David Steele, Emilie Thompson, and Dr. Rachel Powell, August 3 through August 4, 2026.)

'''Reported statement.'''
<blockquote>Disability accommodations cannot lead to extra burdens on a student. Meaning I can't be assigned extra hours simply because I requested the disability accommodations... No other students who attended the vsim days had extra time they were required to stay late, I know this because I have been in contact with my friends. This would be a requirement that is added to me specifically because I requested accommodations.</blockquote>

'''Standards.''' Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. §794, and Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §12181 et seq., together with 34 C.F.R. §104.44 (academic adjustments), prohibit an institution from imposing requirements on a student because of an accommodation that are not imposed on other students. The reporting student's legal theory, that an open-ended, potentially uncredited time commitment tied specifically to a disability-related make-up session is itself a disability-based burden, is a substantive and well-framed accommodation argument that should be evaluated on its own terms rather than folded into the general make-up scheduling process. Compare against the Prelicensure Student Handbook's clinical hour and make-up provisions and against Herzing's policy, referenced elsewhere in this tracker, that clinical hours be accurately logged and credited; whether hours attended beyond a stated make-up requirement are in fact credited toward the reporting student's 585-hour total, or toward a future semester as he proposed, has not been confirmed in writing by Herzing in the material reviewed.

'''Impact.''' If the reporting student's make-up session runs beyond three hours without those additional hours being credited toward his required total, he will have performed clinical work without corresponding academic credit, a burden the record does not show was imposed on any other student who attended the original V-Sim session on a fixed schedule. The dispute also reflects a communication reliability problem: Dr. Gregg's initial instruction was itself incorrect and required a same-day correction, adding uncertainty to an already accommodation-sensitive scheduling matter.

'''Notes.''' It is recommended that the reporting student obtain written confirmation from Dr. Prashad or Dr. Powell, before the August 22, 2026 make-up session, of exactly how any hours beyond three will be credited, whether toward his current 585-hour total or a future semester as he proposed, so the matter is resolved in writing before the session occurs rather than disputed afterward. Cross-References: {{HU|HU-189}} and {{HU|HU-192}} (the underlying missed V-Sim materials and session giving rise to this make-up requirement), the existing {{HU|HU-135}} cluster (eight-hour clinical shift accommodation and hour-count disputes in the same course), and {{HU|HU-191}} (the separate one-hour clinical shortfall and undocumented verbal assurance pattern, illustrating a recurring concern about clinical hours not being reliably documented in writing).

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