by Erika M. Barbara, J.D.; Senior Employment Law Counsel, CalChamber
Accommodating applicants and employees with disabilities can be a challenge for employers — it's a commonly raised issue on CalChamber's Labor Law Helpline and by our seminar and webinar attendees.
To ensure you are meeting your accommodation obligations under federal and state law, it's crucial not only to understand what the laws require, but also to have policies and practices in place for responding to accommodation requests, including engaging in the interactive process, identifying and evaluating potential accommodations, and providing accommodations — and to document all your efforts along the way.
In two recent wins for employers, the courts found that the employers' efforts were sufficient to meet their obligation to engage in the interactive process and provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities (Miller v. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, E081230 (Sept. 6, 2024) and Wentworth v. Regents of the University of California, A168296, A168861 (Sept. 30, 2024). These cases provide helpful examples of what to do when faced with an accommodation request.
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