Reasonable accommodations are an integral part of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Employers are required to provide reasonable accommodations to any disabled employee or applicant—and the standard of what constitutes “reasonable” is quite broad. Essentially, an accommodation must be provided as long as one exists that does not constitute an undue hardship on the employer—and there are very few circumstances that are deemed to truly constitute undue hardship.
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A reasonable accommodation could be anything that will help the applicant or employee accomplish the essential job functions. For applicants, this might mean a change to the application process such that a qualified person with a disability will still be able to apply. For employees, this might mean a change to the working environment in such a way that the disabled individual can perform the essential job functions and/or partake in all customary employee benefits.
The cornerstone of providing accommodation is what’s known as the “interactive process.” This is the process by which the employer assesses what accommodation options exist for the individual. This process is usually triggered when the individual requests accommodation, but it can also be triggered when the employer notices that the individual is having difficulty in some capacity.
Interactive Process: Employer Tips
Here are some tips for employers once they’ve entered into the interactive process:
- Be careful with what questions you ask. Employee medical issues are a sensitive topic; and the issue at hand may or may not be medical. (An accommodation request isn’t necessarily an ADA request.) Ask about the reason for the employee’s request and let him or her answer. Don’t assume to know.
- No matter how the conversation proceeds, be sure to document it. This is important because it will help you treat similarly situated individuals the same in the future, and it is also important because it will allow you a record of events to see how the situation changes over time—which may become relevant in the future.
- Assess all options. When presented with an accommodation request, and after you’ve asked the reason for the request, assess the information to see what the options are. It could be that there are multiple options to achieve the same goal, and one may be more amenable than the others. The employer is not required to give the employee’s first choice of accommodation if there are other reasonable accommodations that would achieve the same goal, though, of course, it makes sense to use the employee preference as one of the criteria for determining the best solution.
- Know that there are some situations in which there will be no reasonable accommodation. If faced with this scenario, it’s critically important to go through the interactive process to try to determine if any solution exists. But the employer is not required to make unreasonable adjustments, like removing essential job functions or tolerating workplace violence, for example. (In fact, in situations like workplace violence, there’s no accommodation that is required.)
- Know that accommodation requests can come at inopportune moments. For example, it may come to light that an employee needs accommodation when the individual is sitting in a disciplinary meeting to address performance issues—issues of which they’re now attributing to a disability in need of accommodation. Employers should take care to separate the issues in that moment. Continue the current meeting while also noting that the interactive process will start for future accommodation assessment.
- Don’t assume. Even when a condition is known or suspected, employers should be careful to not assume it is the root cause of any performance issue. Instead, ask employees for explanations of performance problems, and allow the employee to attribute it if applicable.
- Employers cannot force treatment. Also note that even if the employer is aware of treatment options that may have a mitigating effect on an employee’s medical condition, the employer cannot request the employee undergo any particular treatment. The employer should proceed with reasonable accommodations that address the current situation, irrespective of potential mitigation options the employee may have.
- The interactive process is ongoing. Remember that the interactive process doesn’t end after an accommodation is provided. There should be an assessment to ensure that the accommodation does, in fact, meet the needs it was intended for. If not, the interactive process should begin again.
*This article does not constitute legal advice. Always consult legal counsel with specific questions.