An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 9 – Interactive Process: Employees and Students

employer should request documentation that indicates whether the employee has a disability, not what the specific disability is.) 3. The employer shall not ask for unrelated documentation, including, in most circumstances, an applicant’s or employee’s complete medical records because those records may contain information unrelated to the need for accommodation. 4. If the applicant provides insufficient documentation, the employer shall explain why the documentation is insufficient and allow the applicant to provide the supplemental information in a timely manner. Thereafter, if there is still insufficient documentation, the employer may require an employee to go to a doctor of the employer’s choice. 5. Documentation is insufficient if: a) it does not specify the existence of a FEHA disability and explain the need for a reasonable accommodation; or b) the doctor does not have the expertise to confirm the applicant’s or employee’s disability or need for reasonable accommodation or other factors that indicate that the information provided is fraudulent. 1491 3. S TANDARDS F OR A R EASONABLE A CCOMMODATION The ADA and FEHA have different reasonable accommodation standards. The FEHA standard continues to evolve and might extend beyond addressing essential functions. a. The ADA Once it is determined that particular functions of the job are essential, the school must determine whether the employee can perform those essential functions with or without accommodation. The employee must first show that accommodation is possible. Once it is determined that the disabled employee or applicant can perform the essential functions of the job if an accommodation is made, the burden is then upon the school to make a reasonable accommodation or show that the accommodation is unreasonable or would impose a significant risk of harm to the health and safety of others. b. The FEHA Throughout FEHA, the term “reasonable accommodation” arises frequently and is used to indicate different employer responsibilities. Employers are required to make reasonable accommodations to assist individuals with disabilities in performing the essential functions of their jobs. 1492 FEHA makes it an unlawful practice for an employer or other covered entity to fail to make reasonable accommodation for the known physical or mental disability of an applicant or employee. 1493 The exception to this requirement is if it would create undue hardship for the operation of the employer’s business. 1494

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 340