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:

“To determine the appropriate reasonable accommodation it may be necessary for the covered entity to initiate an informal, interactive process with the individual with a disability in need of the accommodation.”