Employers are often baffled when an employee requests “reasonable accommodations” under the Americans with Disabilities Act, popularly called the ADA. As described by Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth, the ADA “allows persons with disabilities the opportunity to participate in the world around them.” One major section of this Act requires employers to provide “reasonable accommodations” to workers with disabilities. But what does that mean to an employer?
If an individual with a disability requests accommodation, the employer is required to enter into good faith discussions to determine if an accommodation is needed and, if so, what will accomplish the goal. A reasonable accommodation is broadly defined as a change in a working environment or the hiring process that allows qualified individuals with a disability to complete the essential functions of a job while not having the employer suffer an undue hardship. For example, a reasonable accommodation can be a wide range of things, such as adjusting work schedules or equipment, or changing the workplace environment. However, with such an expansive definition, it can be challenging to determine which accommodation provides the best relief for a situation. Sometimes, “outside the box thinking” is needed to find a creative solution to the employee’s needs.
To help address these issues, the U.S. Department of Labor has recently released an online tool called the “Situations and Solutions Finder.” This resource provides more than 700 real-life examples of reasonable accommodations shared by the Job Accommodation Network, a service offered by the Department’s Office of Disability Employment Policy. Such reasonable accommodations can be filtered by disabilities, limitations, and/or occupations.
While accommodations are unique to each individual, the Situations and Solutions Finder shows common patterns taken by workplaces and presents accommodations that have been considered reasonable for employers to satisfy. Both employers and workers can use this tool as a valuable starting point when exploring potential solutions to best support an employee with a disability. Ultimately, while the Situations and Solutions Finder may not provide a one-size-fits-all answer, it can help guide employers and workers toward the right path in identifying reasonable accommodations for the workplace.
The Situations and Solutions Finder can be accessed here.
If your employee has requested accommodations, be sure to treat the request seriously and respectfully and, if needed, seek legal counsel to ensure that the request is handled in compliance with the law.
Taylor Gibbs joined Blanco Tackabery in 2024 as part of the Civil Litigation Practice Group. She earned her B.A. in political science, summa cum laude, with a minor in religious studies from Appalachian State University and her J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law. During law school, Taylor served as an executive member of Wake Forest’s Black Law Students’ Association and represented the school in regional and national moot court competitions as a member of the Jimmy Quander Moot Court Team.