Reasonable Accommodation And The Issue of "Undue Hardship"

An employer is not required to make an accommodation if it imposes an "undue hardship" on the employer. The term "undue hardship" is defined as an action requiring significant difficulty or expense - that is, an action that is unduly costly, extensive, substantial, or disruptive, or that will fundamentally alter the nature of the program.

In determining whether a particular acommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the entity, a number of factors may need to be considered:

• the nature and cost of the accommodation need under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA),
• the overall financial resources of the facility involved in the provision of the reasonble accommodation including the number of persons employed, the effect on expenses and resources, and the impact of the accommodation,
• the overall financial resources of the employer including the overall size of the entity with respect to the number of its employees, and
• the type of operation of the covered entity, including the composition, structure, and functions of the work force.

What is apparent is that Congress intended that the weight given to each factor in making an undue hardship determination will vary depending on the facts of a particular situation and on both the nature and cost of the accommodation in relation to the employer's resources and operations.

If cost is an issue, an employer should determine whether funding is available from an outside source, such as a state rehabilitation agency, to pay for all or part of the accommodation. In addition, the employer should determine whether it is eligible for certain tax credits or deductions to offset the cost of the accommodation. In fact, the EEOC guidance on this subject suggests that to the extent that a portion of the cost of an accommodation causes undue hardship, the employer should ask the individual with the disability if he or she will pay the difference.

An employer cannot claim undue hardship based on employees' or customers' fears or prejudices, or because providing a reasonable accommodation might have a negative impact on employee morale. Employers, however, may claim undue hardship where a reasonable accommodation would be unduly disruptive to other employees' ability to work.

Here are some other previously written posts regarding this subject that you may wish to read.

Frequently Asked Questions About Reasonable Accommodation

Five Questions Regarding Reasonable Accommodation Employers Should Know The Answers To

Comments

[gary]

I would add that employers often go way too far in making "reasonable accomodations." I worked on a case where the employer replaced all doors in a building with special wide electric self-opening doors that opened when the person neared (the employee had an unusually wide wheelchair). Worse yet, the employer paid to have the doors moved as the employee was moved to different locations. The cost was signficant, especially given the number of employees that worked for the client.

Gary
http://www.lawfiles.net