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ADA Accommodation
Employers are required, in certain circumstances, to provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to enable disabled persons to perform the essential functions of a job for which they are applying or in which they are working. That must be done unless it would impose an undue hardship on you. Related articles on ADA Accommodation What is a reasonable accommodation?Generally, an employer is obligated to make a reasonable accommodation only for an employee or applicant's known or obvious disability. The ADA places the initial burden on the employee to inform you of a need for an accommodation. The employee is required only to suggest the existence of a plausible accommodation, the costs of which don't clearly exceed its benefits. A reasonable accommodation must be examined on a case-by-case basis to determine whether it will be effective and whether it will constitute an undue hardship. You should start the accommodation process by discussing it with the disabled employee. Accommodations can range from making existing facilities accessible to job restructuring, acquiring or modifying existing equipment, or reassignment to a vacant position. The employee with a disability must be provided with the tools and environment to enable him or her to accomplish the job. Basic responsibilities of individuals with disabilitiesAn individual may use “plain English” and need not mention the ADA or use the phrase “reasonable accommodation” when requesting an accommodation. That doesn't mean, however, that you are required to provide the change, it is merely a first step. Employer response to a request for reasonable accommodationAfter receiving a request for a reasonable accommodation, the employer and the individual should engage in an informal process to clarify what the individual needs and to identify the appropriate reasonable accommodation. Generally, an employer must not ask whether a reasonable accommodation is needed when an employee has not asked for one. You should initiate the reasonable accommodation interactive process, however, without being asked to if you: (1) know the employee has a disability, (2) know or have reason to know that the employee experiences workplace problems because of the disability, and (3) know, or have reason to know, that the disability prevents the employee from requesting a reasonable accommodation. Undue hardshipYou may refuse to grant an accommodation to an employee or applicant if the requested accommodation isn't reasonable or would cause an undue hardship on your business. Undue hardship refers not only to financial difficulty, but also to reasonable accommodations that are unduly extensive or disruptive or those that would fundamentally alter the nature or operation of the business.
Related articles on ADA Accommodation from the State Employment Law Letters
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