Avoid Penny Wise and Pound Foolish Accommodation Decisions
By Marjory Robertson, Esq.
AVP, Senior Counsel
Sun Life U.S.
By Abigail O’Connell, Esq.
Senior Counsel
Sun Life U.S.
As we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), here are some common-sense tips about the interactive process and reasonable accommodation that may reduce employer costs in the long run. We want to help you avoid being “penny wise and pound foolish.”
1) Don’t “Just Say No”
That may have been a good catchphrase for an anti-drug campaign but a very bad way to handle an ADA accommodation request. Under the ADA, you can only deny a requested accommodation if you can show it would cause undue hardship, would relieve an employee from performing an essential job function, or would create a direct threat to the safety of the employee or others. You cannot deny an accommodation request because “we don’t allow that here” or “if we give you this, everyone will want it.” The ADA requires an individualized analysis of whether you can provide a requested accommodation or an alternative to help this particular employee perform the essential functions of their particular job. It may be easy to “just say no” but a perfunctory denial could land you in a very expensive lawsuit.
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