What’s Reasonable in an Employment Accommodation?

The consequences of an employer mishandling an employee request for reasonable accommodations can be serious.

In the post-COVID era, the importance of effective accommodations has become all the more apparent.

“Employees [suffered] greater incidents of anxiety and depression and emotional distress resulting from being sick with COVID or losing loved ones to the disease,” says Rachel Benjamin, an employment and labor attorney at Hall & Lampros in Atlanta. “Some employers have been accommodating, and telework does provide options for employees. But there are instances where these problems are being ignored by employers.”

‘Reasonable Accommodations’ Is an Ambiguous Legal Standard

One challenge is the concept itself. A reasonable accommodation is “something an employer is obligated to provide if an employee is qualified as disabled,” says Alex Barfield, an employment and labor attorney with Stanton Law in Atlanta. “As a general standard, that’s as clear as mud.”

Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), passed in 1990, is the federal law covering reasonable accommodations for employees “so long as the accommodation doesn’t impose what is called an ‘undue hardship’ on the employer,” Benjamin explains.

State and local laws, however, may define disability differently — or not at all. “In Georgia,” says Benjamin, “there is not an equivalent state law.” What counts as a reasonable accommodation is determined on a case-by-case basis.

“The assessment of what is considered ‘reasonable’ has always been a murky area,” adds Nancy Castor Sprattlin, who runs an eponymous employment firm in Atlanta. “And the post-pandemic era has made this area even murkier. An employer is only required to provide reasonable accommodations and not required to excuse an employee from performing essential functions of the job, even if the employer temporarily excused performance of certain essential functions by permitting remote work during the pandemic.”

Examples of Reasonable Workplace Accommodations

Examples of reasonable accommodations include:

• Changes to make a work environment more accessible;
• Adjusted work schedules;
• Reassignment to a vacant position;
• Assigning new or different job tasks;
• Making information available through alternative formats, such as large print, Braille, or sign language interpreters.

Accommodation Requests Call for a Personalized Process

Mental health matters can be the cause of additional misunderstandings.

“When mental health conditions manifest themselves in sudden ways, employees are typically unable to give employers sufficient notice that they need accommodation,” Sprattlin says. “And unfortunately, employers sometimes are even skeptical that those employees need accommodations at all. Because of their unique and sudden nature, it can be very challenging for employers to manage mental health conditions, especially if an employer thinks the employee is using the medical condition as a basis for not performing.” 

Describing this area of law as “incredibly subjective,” Barfield adds, “You need a personalized process. Hard and fast rules are disfavored. What we see is employers, particularly if it’s their first rodeo, playing doctor with respect to whether someone is disabled, or not understanding that a leave request for a number of weeks can be a reasonable accommodation even if it looks ridiculous on paper.”

Employers Should Not Make Rash Employment Decisions

As an example, he describes an employee who says her doctor is suggesting a 12-week leave. “Employers may have a knee-jerk reaction,” Barfield says, but “they have to sit down with that employee, get doctor approvals, determine whether they can afford to let that person be off that long, take a granular look. You can’t just shoot from the hip.”

A rash decision could lead to a lawsuit in federal court.

You could be on the hook for damages and attorney fees,” Barfield says. “A lawyer pays off, particularly early on, before you make a decision. We can set it up so you make a decision that is most defensible in the event of a lawsuit. If that’s a few hours of talking and research, that’s a lot cheaper than court.”

Find an Experienced Employment Law Attorney

For legal advice in crafting effective policies around the reasonable accommodations process, or responding to possible accommodation requests, use the Super Lawyers directory to find an experienced employment law attorney in your area.