When Does an Employer ‘Know’ About an Employee’s Disability?

Employers are prohibited from discriminating against employees and job applicants because of physical or mental disabilities and are required to engage in an interactive process and provide reasonable accommodations for known disabilities unless doing so would cause the employer undue hardship — but these obligations apply only when the employer knows of the disability.

Most often, employers learn of an employee’s disability when the employee tells them about it directly. Employers, however, may also be deemed to have knowledge of disabilities if they become aware of them through their own observations or through disclosures from third