When is an accommodation reasonable

How do we determine whether an adaptation is reasonable? This is assessed on the basis of the cost, the frequency and duration of use, the organisational impact, the impact on the person with a handicap, the impact on the environment, the lack of equivalent alternatives, This website keeps track of three levels of cookies.

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Racism Religious and philosophical beliefs Disability Age Sexual orientation Other criteria of discrimination Discrimination: a few clarifications Overview of discrimination grounds. You are here: Home Areas of action Education 1. What are reasonable accommodations? Examples: Veerle is studying to become a nurse. Because she has impaired hearing, at the hospital where she is doing her traineeship, she is given a special stethoscope with an amplifier.

Natasha is studying journalism. An employer never has to reallocate essential functions as a reasonable accommodation, but can do so if it wishes.

How do employers determine what job duties are essential? The EEOC also provides information about determining essential functions at section 2. Do employers have to provide light duty for employees with disabilities? The term "light duty" has a number of different meanings in the employment setting. Generally, "light duty" refers to temporary or permanent work that is physically or mentally less demanding than normal job duties. Further, an employer may refer to any position that is sedentary or is less physically or mentally demanding as "light duty.

In the following discussion, the term "light duty" refers only to particular positions created specifically for the purpose of providing work for employees who are unable to perform some or all of their normal duties. An employer need not create a light duty position for a non-occupationally injured employee with a disability as a reasonable accommodation. The principle that the ADA does not require employers to create positions as a form of reasonable accommodation applies equally to the creation of light duty positions.

However, an employer must provide other forms of reasonable accommodation required under the ADA. Accordingly, an employer may not avoid its obligation to accommodate an individual with a disability simply by asserting that the disability did not derive from an occupational injury. On the other hand, if an employer reserves light duty positions for employees with occupational injuries does not just create new light duty jobs when needed , the ADA requires it to consider reassigning an employee with a disability who is not occupationally injured to such positions as a reasonable accommodation.

This is because reassignment to a vacant position and appropriate modification of an employer's policy are forms of reasonable accommodation required by the ADA, absent undue hardship. An employer cannot establish that the reassignment to a vacant reserved light duty position imposes an undue hardship simply by showing that it would have no other vacant light duty positions available if an employee became injured on the job and needed light duty.

Note that an employer is free to determine that a light duty position will be temporary rather than permanent. In its publication on reasonable accommodation and undue hardship, the EEOC discusses modified work schedules and leave as accommodations. However, some issues regarding work schedules and leave are not addressed in the guidance. Do employers have to change full-time jobs to part-time as an accommodation under the ADA? Although EEOC guidance states that part-time work is a form of reasonable accommodation, EEOC guidance also states that employers do not have to create new jobs.

There is an argument that changing one full-time job to two part-time jobs is in essence creating a job. So the answer to the question depends on which EEOC guidance you are following and whether changing a job to part-time is creating a job. If it does, the employer should then consider reassigning the employee to an existing, vacant part-time job instead.

Also, employers always get to consider whether there are other effective accommodations besides the one the employee requested, so employers can explore whether there are accommodations that would enable the employee to continue to work full-time instead of part-time. No, not under the ADA unless the employer maintains pay and benefits for employees without disabilities whose jobs change from full-time to part-time. Employers should consider whether other laws apply, such as wage and hour laws.

How much leave time must an employer provide as an accommodation under the ADA? Instead, leave time is approached like any other accommodation request: the employer must provide the amount of leave needed by the employee unless doing so poses an undue hardship.

Modifying workplace policies, including leave policies, is a form of reasonable accommodation. No, according to the EEOC. Similarly, an employer will violate the ADA if it claims an employee with medical restrictions poses a safety risk, but it cannot show that the individual is a "direct threat.

If an employee's disability poses a direct threat, an employer must consider whether reasonable accommodation will eliminate or diminish the direct threat. An employer never has to excuse a violation of a uniformly applied conduct rule that is job-related and consistent with business necessity.

This means, for example, that an employer never has to tolerate or excuse violence, threats of violence, stealing, or destruction of property. An employer may discipline an employee with a disability for engaging in such misconduct if it would impose the same discipline on an employee without a disability.

An employer must make reasonable accommodation to enable an otherwise qualified employee with a disability to meet such a conduct standard in the future, barring undue hardship, except where the punishment for the violation is termination.

Since reasonable accommodation is always prospective, an employer is not required to excuse past misconduct even if it is the result of the individual's disability. Do employers have to modify dress codes or hygiene requirements as an accommodation?

Most authorities including EEOC treat dress codes and hygiene requirements as "conduct rules," but classify them as the type of conduct rule that must be justified as job-related and consistent with business necessity before being enforced. Therefore, if a person with a disability requests modification of a dress code or hygiene requirement as an accommodation, an employer must consider allowing the modification unless the employer can show that the dress code or hygiene requirement is necessary for the job at issue.

Do employers have to consider allowing employees to work at home as an accommodation? Changing the location where work is performed may fall under the ADA's reasonable accommodation requirement of modifying workplace policies, even if the employer does not allow other employees to telework. However, an employer is not obligated to adopt an employee's preferred or requested accommodation and may instead offer alternate accommodations as long as they are effective. If an employer requires work equipment, such as steel-toed work boots or stethoscopes, and an employee with a disability needs specialized equipment that costs more than the regular equipment e.

If the equipment or device is a personal-use item, then the employer does not have to provide it. For example, if an employee has to wear a special type of boot all the time, the employer does not have to pay for it. Common items that fall into this category are hearing aids, glasses, and medication. On the other hand, if the boots are necessary only for work and constitute an accommodation, the employer may have to pay the entire cost of the boot, unless it would be an undue hardship to do so.

Finally, if the employer provides boots for other employees, the employer must consider providing specialized boots for an employee with a disability, unless doing so would be an undue hardship. However, if other employees buy their own boots and they own them, then an employee with a disability can be required to buy his own boots even if they cost more. If an employee has a limitation such as a hearing impairment, but chooses not to purchase a hearing aid, does the employer then have an obligation to provide a hearing aid at work?

The fact that an individual chooses to forego personal use items at home a wheelchair, hearing aids, protective clothing does not mean that such items become work-related because they are needed on the job. The limitations prompting the need for the hearing aids exist on and off the job and thus they remain personal use items. However, employers may still have to provide a reasonable accommodation even though they are not obligated to provide personal use items.

For example, an employer might have to provide an amplified telephone or alternative means of communication for an employee with a hearing impairment who does not choose to use hearing aids. Do employers have to allow employees with disabilities to use personal need items canes, walkers, wheelchairs, hearing aids or services personal attendant care, service animals in the workplace? Allowing an employee with a disability to use a personal need item or service in the workplace is a form of reasonable accommodation.

For example, it would be a reasonable accommodation for an employer to permit an individual who is blind to use a guide dog at work, even though the employer would not be required to provide a guide dog for the employee.

The term PAS can include a wide variety of services. The Ticket-to-Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act defines PAS as "a range of services provided by 1 or more persons designed to assist an individual with a disability to perform daily living activities on or off the job that the individual would typically perform without assistance if the individual did not have a disability.

Work-related PAS can include task-related assistance at work, such as readers, interpreters, help with lifting or reaching, page turners, a travel attendant to act as a sighted guide to assist a blind employee on occasional business trips, and re-assignment of non-essential duties to co-workers. Do employers have to provide personal attendant care for work-related travel?

According to informal guidance from the EEOC, the ADA does not require employers to provide personal attendant care on the job because reasonable accommodation does not require employers to provide personal need items or services. What if coworkers voluntarily assist employees with disabilities with personal needs?

For example, coworkers assist an employee who uses a wheelchair to transfer from her car into her wheelchair when she arrives at work. Do employers have to allow coworkers to assist or can they prohibit them from doing so? According to informal guidance from the EEOC, in general employers can decide how employees use their time at work. Therefore, employers can probably prohibit coworkers from providing personal assistance to employees with disabilities.

However, from a practical standpoint, employers may want to take a case by case approach and consider allowing coworkers to voluntarily assist employees with disabilities when the employer does not have any liability for resulting injuries and the assistance does not substantially disrupt the workplace. This approach may apply better to minor assistance such as help taking off and putting on a coat or retrieving and preparing food.

If the employer wants to allow coworkers to assist with more difficult tasks, such as toileting transfers or administering medications, the employer should make sure the coworkers are properly trained to provide this type of assistance. Is it a reasonable accommodation to provide a job coach? An employer may be required to provide a temporary job coach to assist in the training of a qualified individual with a disability as a reasonable accommodation, barring undue hardship. An employer also may be required to allow a job coach paid by a public or private social service agency to accompany the employee at the job site as a reasonable accommodation.

Do employers have to provide accommodations for on-the-job travel such as driving to home visits? According to the EEOC, employers must consider accommodations such as alternative methods of transportation for work-related travel when driving is not an essential function of the job.

For example, an employer must consider alternative transportation for a social worker who cannot drive due to vertigo; the essential function is completing the home visits, not driving.

The ADA requires employers to provide accommodations to ensure that employees with disabilities receive equal benefits of employment. For employees on leave and former employees, benefits of employment may include health and disability insurance, job protection, and bonuses and promotions. Generally this practice probably does not violate the ADA. Long term disability is a benefit of employment that employers are free to offer or not.

As such, employers set the parameters of the benefit. Yes, at least under the ADA. The ADA does not prohibit the adoption of health insurance eligibility requirements, as long as such requirements are applied in the same manner to all employees and do not single out employees with disabilities. A requirement that employees work a certain number of hours to remain eligible for health insurance benefits does not discriminate on the basis of disability; it limits both individuals with and without disabilities.

For example, an employee who works reduces hours for some other reason, such as attending school, would also be subject to a reduction or loss of health insurance benefits. If an employer bases bonuses or promotions on employee performance records and attendance, can the employer penalize an employee for work missed during leave taken as a reasonable accommodation? Moreover, such punishment would make the leave an ineffective accommodation, thus making an employer liable for failing to provide a reasonable accommodation.

Does the ADA protect employees with disabilities from termination during a reduction in force or from being laid off when business is slow? Although the ADA protects individuals with disabilities against discrimination on the basis of disability, employees with disabilities are not protected against non-discriminatory layoffs.

When deciding to terminate or layoff employees, employers need to make sure that their decisions are based on business needs, rather than on a desire to get rid of employees with disabilities.

For example, employers can base their layoff decisions on such non-discriminatory criteria as productivity, seniority, or job category. However, if an employer bases its layoff decisions on productivity of employees, it cannot penalize employees for accommodations that were provided under the ADA.

The EEOC gives the following example:. Company X is having a reduction-in-force. The company decides that any employee who has missed more than four weeks in the past year will be terminated.

An employee took five weeks of leave for treatment of his disability. The company cannot count those five weeks in determining whether to terminate this employee. Former employees are protected by the ADA when they are subjected to discrimination arising from the former employment relationship. For example, an employer cannot release confidential medical information about a former employee. Close Menu. A A A Text Size. Print This Page. A reasonable accommodation will remove a workplace barrier for an individual with a disability.

Workplace barriers include physical objects as well as policies and procedures. Many disabilities are not obvious and even when a disability is obvious, the individual may not need a reasonable accommodation to perform essential job functions. Reasonable accommodations are provided on an individual basis. An employer's obligation to provide a reasonable accommodation applies only to known physical or mental disabilities. An employer should inquire about the need for a reasonable accommodation when—.

If the employee with the disabililty states that a reasonable accommodation is not needed, the employer has fullfilled its obligation.

When a request for a reasonable accommodation is made, it is up to the employer to determine the appropriate accommodation. There are three categories of reasonable accommodations—. An employer can not require an employee with a disability to accept a reasonable accommodation if the accommodation is not requested or needed. However, if an employee with a disability turns down an accommodation needed to perform the essential functions of the job, they may be considered not qualified for the job.

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