Reasonable Accommodation

Overview
ADA-covered cities must provide reasonable accommodation to qualified applicants and employees with disabilities unless doing so would cause undue hardship. Reasonable accommodation is an individualized process: the city and the applicant or employee should identify the work-related limitation, the barrier created by the limitation, and effective accommodation options.

What “reasonable accommodation” means
A reasonable accommodation is a modification or adjustment to a job application process, the work environment, the way a job is normally performed, or the benefits and privileges of employment that enables a qualified individual with a disability to have an equal employment opportunity.

An accommodation may be reasonable when it is feasible or plausible in the ordinary case and is effective for the individual. An effective accommodation:

• Enables an applicant to participate in the application process.
• Enables an employee to perform the essential functions of the position.
• Enables an employee to enjoy equal benefits and privileges of employment.

The city does not have to provide the employee’s preferred accommodation if it offers another effective accommodation. However, the city’s alternative must actually address the individual’s disability-related workplace limitation.

When accommodation is required
A city must provide reasonable accommodation for the known physical or mental limitations of a qualified applicant or employee with a disability unless the city demonstrates that the accommodation would cause undue hardship.

The employee or applicant does not have to use the terms “ADA,” “disability,” or “reasonable accommodation.” A request may be made in plain language when the person communicates a need for a workplace change because of a medical condition. Once the city has enough information to recognize a possible accommodation need, it should promptly begin an individualized, interactive process.

Examples of accommodations
Potential reasonable accommodations may include:

• Making existing facilities readily accessible to and usable by an employee with a disability.
• Acquiring or modifying equipment, devices, software, tools, or workstations.
• Modifying examinations, training materials, policies, or application procedures.
• Providing qualified readers, interpreters, captioning, or other effective communication assistance.
• Restructuring a job by modifying work methods or reallocating marginal duties.
• Changing work hours, shifts, start and end times, break schedules, or other scheduling practices.
• Providing a part-time or modified work schedule, when reasonable.
• Allowing telework or a hybrid work arrangement when the essential functions can be performed effectively outside the usual worksite.
• Adjusting lighting, noise, temperature, or other aspects of the work environment.
• Providing closer parking, accessible work areas, modified furniture, or changes to door hardware and workspace layout.
• Providing a quiet space or additional breaks when needed to manage a disability-related limitation.
• Providing leave, modifying a leave policy, or granting a finite extension of leave when reasonable.
• Reassigning an employee to a vacant position for which the employee is qualified when accommodation in the current position is not effective or would cause undue hardship.

Reassignment does not ordinarily require the city to create a job, displace another employee, promote the employee, or waive legitimate qualification standards.

What the ADA does not require
The ADA does not require a city to:

Lower production, performance, conduct, or quality standards that are job-related and consistently applied.

• Eliminate an essential job function.
• Permanently assign an employee’s essential job duties to coworkers.
• Create a new position, displace another employee, or promote an employee as a reassignment accommodation.
• Provide the employee’s preferred accommodation when another effective accommodation is available.
• Provide personal-use items needed for daily activities both on and off the job, such as ordinary eyeglasses, hearing aids, wheelchairs, or prosthetic devices.

The city may nevertheless need to provide a device, tool, or modification that is specifically designed for—or required to address—the employee’s job-related needs.

When a city may decline
A city may decline a particular requested accommodation when:

• The city does not know, and has no reason to know, of a disability-related need for accommodation.
• The applicant or employee is not qualified for the position, even with reasonable accommodation.
• The requested change would eliminate an essential function of the position rather than enable the employee to perform it.
• The requested accommodation would cause undue hardship.
• Another effective accommodation is available and the city provides that alternative.

Before denying a request, the city should consider whether a different accommodation would be effective and should discuss alternatives with the employee.

Undue hardship
Undue hardship means significant difficulty or expense in light of the city’s particular circumstances. The analysis is individualized and considers the nature and cost of the accommodation; the city’s overall financial resources; the number of employees; the effect on expenses and resources; the type of operation; the structure of the workforce; and the impact on operations.

Undue hardship is not limited to monetary cost. It can include an accommodation that is unduly extensive, substantial, disruptive, or that would fundamentally alter the nature or operation of the city’s services. General inconvenience, coworker resentment, administrative burden, or a supervisor’s preference ordinarily will not establish undue hardship.

The ADA’s undue-hardship standard is distinct from Title VII’s religious-accommodation standard. Under the ADA, an employer must show significant difficulty or expense. In Groff v. DeJoy, the U.S. Supreme Court held that, for a Title VII religious accommodation, an employer must show that the accommodation would result in substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business.^[1] The standards are now more similar than they were under the former “more than de minimis” Title VII standard, but they remain legally separate analyses.

Employee and city responsibilities
An employee or applicant who needs accommodation generally must let the city know that a work-related change or adjustment is needed because of a medical condition. The person does not need to use legal terminology or submit a written request unless city policy reasonably requires a written follow-up after the request is made.

The employee should cooperate in the interactive process by explaining relevant work limitations, identifying possible accommodation options when able, and providing reasonable medical documentation when it is job-related and necessary to evaluate the request.

The city should promptly:

• Acknowledge the request.
• Identify the essential functions and relevant workplace barriers.
• Seek only medical information that is job-related and necessary.
• Discuss potential effective accommodations with the employee.
• Evaluate cost, feasibility, operational impact, and potential undue hardship.
• Select and implement an effective accommodation.
• Document the process and follow up to confirm that the accommodation is working.

All medical information and disability-related documentation must be maintained confidentially and separately from the employee’s regular personnel file.

Key authority

• 42 U.S.C. § 12112(b)(5), addressing reasonable accommodation and undue hardship.
• 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(o), defining reasonable accommodation.
• 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(p), defining undue hardship.

EEOC, Enforcement Guidance on Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship under the ADA.

^[1]Groff v. DeJoy, 600 U.S. 447 (2023), establishing the current Title VII religious-accommodation undue-hardship standard.