Reasonable Accommodation and the Undue Hardship Limitation

Technical assistance manual on the employment provisions (Title I) of the Americans With Disabilities Act

I. TITLE I: AN OVERVIEW OF LEGAL REQUIREMENTS

Reasonable accommodation is a critical component of the ADA’s assurance of nondiscrimination. Reasonable accommodation is any change in the work environment or in the way things are usually done that results in equal employment opportunity for an individual with a disability.

An employer must make a reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of a qualified applicant or employee with a disability unless it can show that the accommodation would cause an undue hardship on the operation of its business.

Some examples of reasonable accommodation include:

• making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible to, and usable by, an individual with a disability;
• job restructuring;
• modifying work schedules;
• reassignment to a vacant position;
• acquiring or modifying equipment or devices;
• adjusting or modifying examinations, training materials, or policies;
• providing qualified readers or interpreters.

An employer is not required to lower quality or quantity standards to make an accommodation. Nor is an employer obligated to provide personal use items, such as glasses or hearing aids, as accommodations.

Undue hardship

An employer is not required to provide an accommodation if it will impose an undue hardship on the operation of its business. Undue hardship is defined by the ADA as an action that is:

"excessively costly, extensive, substantial, or disruptive, or that would fundamentally alter the nature or operation of the business."

In determining undue hardship, factors to be considered include the nature and cost of the accommodation in relation to the size, the financial resources, the nature and structure of the employer’s operation, as well as the impact of the accommodation on the specific facility providing the accommodation. (See Chapter III.)