An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 9 – Interactive Process: Employees and Students

The California Court of Appeal has held that, to establish that an employer has met its reasonable accommodation obligation by engaging in the interactive process, the employer must show that it offered an accommodation that the employee refused, that there were no appropriate vacant positions, or that the interactive process broke down due to the employee’s failure to engage in the process in good faith. 1561 1. T HE S TEPS O F T HE I NTERACTIVE P ROCESS Once the need for reasonable accommodation arises either by the employee’s request or by the school’s knowledge of the employee’s disability, the school must engage in the interactive process. In general, the interactive process entails:  The school obtains/reviews doctors’ notes containing requested accommodations;  The school and the employee meet to discuss the requested accommodations and determine whether they are reasonable; and,  The school informs the employee whether it will provide the accommodation. Each of these steps has various elements discussed, below. Often the meeting in which the school informs the employee whether it will provide the accommodation is separate from the step in which the school and the employee meet to discuss the requested accommodations. For example, the school might need to think about the requested accommodations, gather more facts, and/or speak with the school’s attorneys before making a final decision. Also, the school should be creative and flexible during the interactive process. In the event that the school must dismiss an employee who is disabled and who has engaged in the interactive process, the school must be able to demonstrate that it engaged in a good faith consideration of all potential reasonable accommodations. Generally, the participants at the meeting on behalf of the school should be a representative from human resources and a supervisor who has a detailed understanding of the employee’s duties. Further, the employee’s inability to participate in the interactive process should not be viewed, in and of itself, as a “breakdown in the process,” so the school should schedule the meeting at a convenient time for the employee and consider meeting by phone if the employee is unable to meet in person. Also, the school should meet with the employee more than once, as necessary, because the obligation to engage in the interactive process is an ongoing one, and the employee’s condition may change. As to identifying and selecting reasonable accommodations, the school should follow the following process:  Analyze job functions and establish essential and nonessential job tasks;

 Identify precise limitations of the position held by the employee;  Identify possible accommodations and assess how each will enable the employee to successfully perform the position;

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 350