What is disability accommodation? The basics.
If you have a physical or mental disability and if your employer employs over 15 employees (or over 5 employees in California), your employer is required to provide you an accommodation that will enable you to get back to work.
What medical conditions fall under this requirement?
The Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") requires that an individual have a "physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities."42 U.S.C.A. § 12102.
The California Fair Employment and Housing Act ("FEHA") requires that the physical or mental disability "limit" a major life activity. Cal. Gov't Code §12926(m)(1)(B).
If an employer does not know that you need modifications to your work responsibilities or environment, likely your employer won't ask you what you need to perform your job while maintaining your health.
What happens after I tell my employer I need modifications at work because of my disability?
Once your employer is aware that you may need an accommodation, your employer must engage in a timely, good faith, interactive process with you to determine an effective accommodation. An effective accommodation enables you to work despite your disability! This process should involve speaking with you about your job responsibilities and discussing possible modifications to your work environment or the manner in which your perform your job so that you can continue to work while maintaining your health.
Don’t be the cause of any breakdowns in communications.
During the interactive process, you must ensure that you are not the cause of any breakdown in communications. Continue to reach out to your employer after you've made your accommodation request to obtain updates or ask them if they need more information from you or your physician.
If your employer is already aware of your disability, it has an affirmative duty to make a reasonable accommodation for your disability, meaning, your employer cannot wait for you to request an accommodation; it must act affirmatively and begin engaging in an interactive process with you.
Throughout the interactive process, you and your employer should be identifying an accommodation that would enable you to continue performing the essential job functions, while not causing an undue hardship on your employer.
Although your employer is required to be flexible with its disabled employees to accommodate their needs, the accommodation must be "reasonable." This means that your employer cannot be forced to provide an accommodation that will cause an "undue hardship." Relying on an "undue hardship" as the reason your employer cannot accommodate you is a high standard for your employer to meet. A number of factors may be considered, including the cost, longevity, and scope of the accommodation, size of the business, and the nature of the business.
Your employer is also not required to retain an employee or hire an employee who would "pose a direct threat" to or would "endanger the employee's health or safety or the health or safety of others". 42 U.S.C. §12113(b); Cal. Gov't Code §12940(a)(2).
What is a reasonable and effective accommodation is extremely case-specific.
Examples may include:
Modified work schedules
Performing light duty work
Making the facilities accessible
Changing how a task is performed
Providing paid or unpaid leave
Reallocating or redistributing non-essential job functions
A key takeaway: don’t hesitate to communicate. Open communication with your employer is always best practice.
DISCLAIMER: this information is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice or seek to be the complete and comprehensive statement of the law, nor is it intended to address your specific requirements or provide advice on which reliance should be placed.