Category Archives: Reasonable Accommodations

Understanding the Interactive Process Under the ADA: A Two-Way Street

Let’s talk about a con­cept in employ­ment law that often gets over­looked or misunderstood—the “inter­ac­tive process” under the Amer­i­cans with Dis­abil­i­ties Act (ADA). If you rep­re­sent employ­ers or employ­ees, or you’re an HR pro­fes­sion­al nav­i­gat­ing accom­mo­da­tion requests, this process is absolute­ly cen­tral to ADA compliance.

It’s also one of the more com­mon areas where employ­ers get tripped up—not nec­es­sar­i­ly by refus­ing to accom­mo­date a dis­abil­i­ty, but by fail­ing to com­mu­ni­cate prop­er­ly and in good faith.

What is the Interactive Process?

Under the ADA, once an employ­er becomes aware that an employ­ee needs an accom­mo­da­tion for a dis­abil­i­ty, the law requires the employ­er to engage in an “inter­ac­tive process” with the employ­ee to iden­ti­fy a rea­son­able accom­mo­da­tion. The statu­to­ry basis is 42 U.S.C. § 12112(b)(5)(A), which defines dis­crim­i­na­tion to include not mak­ing “rea­son­able accom­mo­da­tions to the known phys­i­cal or men­tal lim­i­ta­tions of an oth­er­wise qual­i­fied indi­vid­ual with a dis­abil­i­ty,” unless the employ­er can show undue hardship.

The Equal Employ­ment Oppor­tu­ni­ty Com­mis­sion (EEOC) explains that this is not a one-time conversation—it’s a col­lab­o­ra­tive dia­logue aimed at iden­ti­fy­ing and imple­ment­ing accom­mo­da­tions that allow the employ­ee to per­form the essen­tial func­tions of their job.\

The gov­ern­ing reg­u­la­tion, 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(o)(3), puts it this way:

Con­tin­ue read­ing Under­stand­ing the Inter­ac­tive Process Under the ADA: A Two-Way Street

Workplace Accommodations Under the ADA: What Employers and Employees Need to Know

The Amer­i­cans with Dis­abil­i­ties Act (ADA) is a key fed­er­al law that pro­tects employ­ees with dis­abil­i­ties from work­place dis­crim­i­na­tion. But one of the most mis­un­der­stood aspects of the ADA is the require­ment for rea­son­able accom­mo­da­tions. Employ­ers some­times strug­gle with what’s required, and employ­ees often aren’t sure what they can request. So, let’s break it down.

What Is a Reasonable Accommodation?

A rea­son­able accom­mo­da­tion is any mod­i­fi­ca­tion or adjust­ment that allows an employ­ee with a dis­abil­i­ty to per­form their job duties effec­tive­ly. These can include:

  • Adjust­ed work sched­ules or remote work options
  • Mod­i­fied work­spaces (e.g., ergonom­ic chairs, stand­ing desks)
  • Assis­tive tech­nol­o­gy, such as screen readers
  • Reas­sign­ment to a vacant position
  • Adjust­ed poli­cies (e.g., allow­ing a ser­vice ani­mal in the workplace)

The key phrase here is rea­son­able. Employ­ers aren’t required to grant every request—only those that don’t impose an undue hard­ship (42 U.S.C. §12112(b)(5)).

Con­tin­ue read­ing Work­place Accom­mo­da­tions Under the ADA: What Employ­ers and Employ­ees Need to Know