Avoiding ADA Accommodation Mistakes

There continues to be an increase in workplace accommodation requests by individuals with disabilities. Where a disabled individual requests a workplace accommodation, the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) requires employers to respond to the request and attempt to accommodate an individual’s disability.

Recently, DiMuroGinsberg partner, Jonathan R. Mook, was quoted in an article in the October, 2017 issue of HR Magazine about the various steps that employers should follow in managing ADA accommodation requests. As Jonathan observed, “employers are seeing more requests, and they are taking them more seriously.” This is because, as Jonathan explains, to litigate an ADA accommodation claim usually “will cost ten to twenty times the amount that it would have cost the employer” to implement a reasonable request. Additionally, an employer should designate one person or unit in the HR department to receive and manage all accommodation requests. As Jonathan advises, such requests, “should not be handled ad hoc by a supervisor.”

If you would like to obtain a copy of the article entitled “Trust the Process,” by Jennifer Arnold, please contact Jonathan at jmook@dimuro.com.