An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 9 – Interactive Process: Employees and Students

The requirement of reasonable accommodation asks whether an employer has taken a minimum amount of measures to ensure a disabled individual’s ability to perform his or her job duties. The California courts appear to have inferred an active and affirmative duty out of this requirement. FEHA has been interpreted to require “not only that employers remove obstacles that are in the way of the progress of the disabled, but that they actively re-structure their way of doing business in order to accommodate the needs of their disabled employees.” 1495 In summary, a reasonable accommodation is any change in the work environment or in the way things are usually done that results in an equal employment opportunity and allows an individual with a disability to perform the essential functions of the job. 1496 A reasonable accommodation does not have to be the “best” accommodation, however, or even the accommodation that the individual with the disability wants the most. A reasonable accommodation must be an “effective” accommodation. 1497 but need not necessarily be expensive. Also, an employer is not required to accommodate all employees with similar disabilities in a similar fashion. 1498 Such a requirement would discourage employers from ever offering extraordinary accommodations for fear that thereafter it would become legally required. 1499 California courts will, however, look to a school’s past accommodation practices to determine if an accommodation is reasonable. Schools should keep in mind when they accommodate an employee, who may, for example, be a star performer, that other employees may look to that accommodation when engaged in their own interactive process and may expect a similar accommodation. 1500 To determine whether an accommodation is “reasonable” or “effective,” an employer should consider the reliability of the requested accommodation, 1501 whether the employer is capable of providing it, 1502 and whether or not the accommodation would help the individual perform the essential functions of the position. 4. W HAT T YPES O F A CCOMMODATIONS A RE R EASONABLE ? The requirement for reasonable accommodation applies to all employment decisions and to the job application process. It includes modifications or adjustments that enable employees with disabilities to enjoy benefits and privileges that are equal to the benefits and privileges enjoyed by other employees. The EEOC Regulations define an accommodation to be any change in the work environment or in the way things are customarily done that enables an individual with a disability to enjoy equal employment opportunities. 1503 However, a reasonable accommodation is required to meet only job-related, rather than personal, needs (i.e., specifically assists the individual in performing the duties of a particular job). An example of this might be special glasses for an individual with a sight impairment that are specifically designed for the job, or a special hearing device for an individual to perform his or her duties, as opposed to eye glasses or a hearing aid for everyday wear. An employer may be required to provide or absorb the costs of reasonably accommodating its blind maintenance workers by providing them with readers, electronic devices or other suitable means of accommodation. 1504 An employer is not, however, required to provide a wheelchair or a prosthetic limb. 1505

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