The following is excerpted from our ADA Training & Certification Program:

Reasonable Accommodations

The fundamental nature of the ADA is to remove barriers or obstacles that prevent otherwise qualified individuals that have a disability from performing the job.

These barriers and obstacles in the workplace come in many forms, including physical obstacles (such as inaccessible facilities or equipment) and procedures or rules (such as rules concerning when work is performed, when breaks are taken, or how essential or marginal functions are performed). “Reasonable accommodations” remove workplace barriers for individuals with disabilities.

The ADA regulations state:

"It is unlawful for a covered entity not to make reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified applicant or employee with a disability, unless such covered entity can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of its business."

Thus, applicable employers must make reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified applicant or employee with a disability, unless such an employer can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of its business.

The employer may not:

• Deny employment opportunities based on the need to make reasonable accommodations
• Use qualification standards, employment tests or other selection criteria that screen out or tend to screen out an individual with a disability (unless this is shown to be job-related and consistent with business necessity)
• Fail to select and administer tests concerning employment in the most effective manner to ensure that the test results accurately reflect the skills and aptitude of the applicant or employee, rather than reflecting the disability (except where such skills are the factors that the test purports to measure)

For Additional Information:

For information and examples for rules and best practices for the requesting and evaluation of reasonable accommodation requests, use our ADA Training & Certification Program or attend our FMLA & ADA Certificate Program.

Other Reasonable Accommodation topics that are covered in these training programs include:

• Documentation
• Medical Examinations
• Documentation Not Allowed
• Refusing A Reasonable Accommodation
• Reasonable Accommodation and Job Applicants
• Reasonable Accommodation During the Application Process
• Reasonable Accommodation and Employee Training
• Job Restructuring
• Job Restoration
• Job Protection
• Re-Assignment
• Confidentiality