Reasonable Accommodation
A reasonable accommodation is a change to the workplace, the schedule, or the job duties that lets a qualified employee with a disability (or a religious obligation, or a pregnancy-related limitation) keep doing the job. The employer has to provide one unless doing so would cause undue hardship.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- California's reasonable-accommodation duty for disability is at Gov. Code §12940(m); the interactive-process duty is at §12940(n).
- Employers must provide an effective accommodation unless they prove undue hardship; the accommodation does not have to be the employee's first choice.
- Scotch v. Art Inst. of Cal. (2009) 173 Cal.App.4th 986 makes the interactive-process duty continuing; employers cannot wait for the employee to name the exact fix.
- Common accommodations: modified schedule, ergonomic equipment, reassignment to a vacant position, leave of absence, remote work, restructured non-essential duties.
California's accommodation duty for disability is at Gov. Code §12940(m). The duty is paired with a separate obligation to engage in a timely, good-faith "interactive process" with the employee under §12940(n). The controlling California case on the interactive process is Scotch v. Art Inst. of Cal. (2009) 173 Cal.App.4th 986, which held that the duty is continuing and that the employer cannot wait for the employee to identify the exact accommodation needed.
Common accommodations: a modified schedule, ergonomic equipment, a reassignment to a vacant position the employee can perform, leave of absence, remote work where feasible, or restructuring of non-essential duties. The accommodation does not have to be the one the employee requested, but it has to be effective.
Example: A bank teller develops carpal tunnel syndrome. She asks her branch manager for a chair with adjustable arm support and a 15-minute typing break every two hours. The branch manager denies the request without discussion and tells her "we cannot accommodate medical issues at this branch." That blanket refusal, with no interactive dialogue and no analysis of cost, violates §12940(m) and §12940(n).
Filing window: three years with the CRD under Gov. Code §12960; 300 days with the EEOC for an ADA claim. A California disability discrimination lawyer can document the interactive-process breakdown.
From our practice: The interactive-process record is where most accommodation cases get decided. Employers that document every meeting, every clarification request, and every alternative considered tend to win these cases even when the ultimate accommodation was denied. Employers that send a single "we can't do that" email almost always lose. We work the timeline backwards from the denial to identify exactly which steps the employer skipped.
Attorney Advertising. Page reviewed by David M. Safvati, CA Bar #326605. This advertisement is the responsibility of Westview Law PC.
