By Marti Cardi, JD
VP Product Compliance
Matrix Absence Management
An employer should analyze telework as an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodation in the same fashion as any other requested accommodation. Is it reasonable? Is it effective? If yes, then the accommodation must be provided unless it creates an undue hardship or an alternative effective accommodation is available.
In general, telecommuting is a reasonable accommodation. An Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance advocates telework as an appropriate accommodation in many circumstances.1 Courts likewise have recognized that telecommuting can be a reasonable accommodation, although not as liberally as the EEOC would like. For example, in EEOC v. Ford Motor (6th Cir. 2015), the court held that under the particular facts of the case, telecommuting was not an appropriate accommodation.2
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