The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires employers provide reasonable accommodation for the known disability of a qualified individual, unless to do so would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the employer’s business
Reasonable accommodation is any change or adjustment to a job or work environment that permits a qualified applicant or employee with a disability to participate in the job application process, to perform the essential functions of a job, or to enjoy benefits and privileges of employment equal to those enjoyed by employees without disabilities.
What’s ‘Reasonable’?
Accommodations must be made on a case-by-case basis because the nature and extent of a disability and the requirements of a job will vary. The principal test in selecting a particular type of accommodation is that of effectiveness—that is, whether the accommodation will enable the person with a disability to perform the essential functions of the job.
Examples of Reasonable Accommodations
Here are some examples of reasonable accommodations:
- Job restructuring. Job restructuring is frequently accomplished by exchanging marginal functions of a job that cannot be performed—or cannot be performed safely—by a person with a disability for marginal functions performed by one or more other employees. You never have to reallocate essential functions as a reasonable accommodation, but you can do so if you wish. Although you are not required by ADA to reallocate essential functions, it may be a reasonable accommodation to modify the essential functions of a job by changing when or how they are done.
Meeting both the requirements of safety and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations can be tough sometimes. Find out how to meet the challenge and ensure compliance in both areas in an upcoming live BLR webinar. Click here for details.
- Reassignment. When an employee with a disability is unable to perform his or her present job and there are no effective accommodations, or a reasonable accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the employer, you must consider reassigning the employee to a vacant position. The employee must be qualified for the new position, and the new position must be equivalent in terms of pay, status, and benefits. If there is no vacant equivalent position, you must reassign the employee to a vacant lower-level position for which the employee is qualified. You are not required by ADA to create a position or to bump another employee in order to create a vacancy, nor are you required to promote an employee with a disability to a higher-level position.
- Flexible leave policies. Flexible leave policies should be considered as a reasonable accommodation when people with disabilities require time off from work because of their disability. Permitting the use of accrued paid leave, or unpaid leave, is a form of reasonable accommodation. Your company does not have to provide paid leave beyond what is provided to similarly situated employees. However, you should allow an employee with a disability to exhaust accrued paid leave first and then provide unpaid leave.
- Light duty. Reassignment to an existing light-duty position may be a form of reasonable accommodation for current or returning employees. However, since you are not required to reallocate essential functions of a job under the ADA, you are not required to create a light-duty position in which the employee is no longer performing the essential functions of the job. If the heavy-duty functions of the job are only marginal functions that can be reallocated to other employees, you may be required to do so. You may require an employee with a disability to take on other marginal functions that he or she can perform.
Join us on December 9 for an in-depth live webinar that will provide you with an understanding of employee accommodation requirements under the ADA, strategies to make sure safety and ADA programs are aligned. Learn More.
- Acquisition or modification of equipment and devices. Purchase of equipment or modifications to existing equipment may be effective accommodations for many types of disabilities. There are many devices that make it possible for people to overcome existing barriers to performing the functions of a job.
- Adjusting and modifying examinations, training materials, and policies. You may be required to modify, adjust, or make other reasonable accommodations in the ways that tests and training are administered in order to provide equal employment opportunities for qualified individuals with disabilities. Revisions to other employment policies and practices may also be required as reasonable accommodations.