Employer Resources

Job Accommodations are usually not expensive. 
Job Accommodations may be as simple as a rearrangement of equipment. 
Job Accommodations can reduce workers' compensation and other insurance costs. 
Job Accommodations can increase the pool of qualified employees. 
Job Accommodations can create opportunities for persons with functional limitations. 

The Americans with Disabilities Act makes it unlawful to discriminate in employment against a qualified individual with a disability. The ADA also outlaws discrimination against individuals with disabilities in State and local government services, public accommodations, transportation and telecommunications. This booklet explains the part of the ADA that prohibits job discrimination. This part of the law is enforced by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and State and local civil rights enforcement agencies that work with the Commission.

Job discrimination against people with disabilities is illegal if practiced by:  private employers, state and local governments, employment agencies, labor organizations, and labor-management committees.

The part of the ADA enforced by the EEOC outlaws job discrimination by all employers, including State and local government employers, with 15 or more employees.

The ADA makes it unlawful to discriminate in all employment practices such as:

• recruitment

• pay

• hiring

• firing

• promotion

• job assignments

• training

• leave

• lay-off

• benefits

• all other employment related activities.

The ADA prohibits an employer from retaliating against an applicant or employee for asserting his rights under the ADA. The Act also makes it unlawful to discriminate against an applicant or employee, whether disabled or not, because of the individual's family, business, social or other relationship or association with an individual with a disability.

An individual with a disability must be qualified to perform the essential functions of the job, in order to be protected by the ADA. This means that the applicant or employee must satisfy your job requirements for educational background, employment experience, skills, licenses, and any other qualification standards that are job related; and be able to perform those tasks that are essential to the job, with or without reasonable accommodation.  The ADA does not interfere with your right to hire the best qualified applicant. Nor does the ADA impose any affirmative action obligations. The ADA simply prohibits you from discriminating against a qualified applicant or employee because of her disability.

Essential functions are the basic job duties that an employee must be able to perform, with or without reasonable accommodation. You should carefully examine each job to determine which functions or tasks are essential to performance. (This is particularly important before taking an employment action such as recruiting, advertising, hiring, promoting or firing).

Factors to consider in determining if a function is essential include:

• whether the reason the position exists is to perform that function,

• the number of other employees available to perform the function or among whom the performance of the function can be distributed, and

• the degree of expertise or skill required to perform the function.

Your judgment as to which functions are essential, and a written job description prepared before advertising or interviewing for a job will be considered by EEOC as evidence of essential functions. Other kinds of evidence that EEOC will consider include:

• the actual work experience of present or past employees in the job,

• the time spent performing a function,

• the consequences of not requiring that an employee perform a function, and

• the terms of a collective bargaining agreement.

Reasonable accommodation is any change or adjustment to a job or work environment that permits a qualified applicant or employee with a disability to participate in the job application process, to perform the essential functions of a job, or to enjoy benefits and privileges of employment equal to those enjoyed by employees without disabilities. For example, reasonable accommodation may include:

• acquiring or modifying equipment or devices,

• job restructuring,

• part-time or modified work schedules,

• reassignment to a vacant position,

• adjusting or modifying examinations, training materials or policies,

• providing readers and interpreters, and

• making the workplace readily accessible to and usable by people with disabilities.

Reasonable accommodation also must be made to enable an individual with a disability to participate in the application process, and to enjoy benefits and privileges of employment equal to those available to other employees.

It is a violation of the ADA to fail to provide reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of a qualified individual with a disability, unless to do so would impose an undue hardship on the operation of your business. Undue hardship means that the accommodation would require significant difficulty or expense.

Frequently, when a qualified individual with a disability requests a reasonable accommodation, the appropriate accommodation is obvious. The individual may suggest a reasonable accommodation based upon her own life or work experience. 

It is not necessary to provide a reasonable accommodation if doing so would cause an undue hardship. Undue hardship means that an accommodation would be unduly costly, extensive, substantial or disruptive, or would fundamentally alter the nature or operation of the business. Among the factors to be considered in determining whether an accommodation is an undue hardship are the cost of the accommodation, the employer's size, financial resources and the nature and structure of its operation.

If a particular accommodation would be an undue hardship, you must try to identify another accommodation that will not pose such a hardship. If cost causes the undue hardship, you must also consider whether funding for an accommodation is available from an outside source, such as a vocational rehabilitation agency, and if the cost of providing the accommodation can be offset by state or federal tax credits or deductions. You must also give the applicant or employee with a disability the opportunity to provide the accommodation or pay for the portion of the accommodation that constitutes an undue hardship.