Employees have certain rights. For anyone with a physical or mental disability, one of these rights is to ask their employer to make reasonable accommodations so they can do the job.
Whether or not the employer has to make that accommodation is not always simple to determine. The employer is generally expected to make reasonable accommodations, but not unreasonable ones.
How is “reasonable” determined?
If a court were called to rule on the situation, the judge would consider several factors, including:
- The necessity of it
- The financial cost
- The effect of implementing it on others
- The size and turnover of the business
- The other alternatives available
Let’s look at an example:
An employee with hearing issues asks for the employer to install a program on their computer that transcribes conversations so they can more easily understand what was said and check if they missed something. There would be little if any financial cost, it’s quick to implement and does not take up any physical space so the employer would likely be obligated to provide it unless they can show that the need for privacy could make a program that records conversations an issue.
Another example: A person with a physical disability applies for a job on a production line where all the workers stand up all day. This person cannot stand for long and requests to be allowed to sit. The employer argues that allowing them to sit would cause problems because they would be at a lower height than their colleagues and this would disrupt the flow of the line. They argue that adapting the machinery to be lower at one point would cost too much and make it difficult for other workers to step into that position on the line, which would now be too low for them. In a case like this, a court might side with the employer in believing that this particular accommodation request is unreasonable.
Dialogue between employee and employer can often work to reach an acceptable solution. If not, the employee may have options available if they believe their employer’s denial is unreasonable and amounts to discrimination.