Managing ADA Reasonable Accommodation Requests in the Face of COVID-19

BY RACHEL SHAW, MBA

President and Principal Consultant
Shaw HR Consulting

As employers ask employees to return to the workplace from working remotely, many are receiving requests for reasonable accommodation, especially requests to work from home. How do you manage this influx of requests? The answer is to build a robust, compliant program that is in line with your organization’s philosophy.

Because the COVID-19 pandemic will eventually wind down, view your efforts as short-term, like exploring reasonable accommodations for an employee with temporary work restrictions. You’ll still need a consistent process, though one that is less robust than for an employee with permanent restrictions; you aren’t making employment decisions. While you have phone conversations and send letters to document decisions, you do not need to conduct formal meetings.

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