What role does an employee play in disability accommodation?

To determine the appropriate reasonable accommodation, it might be necessary for an employer to initiate an informal, interactive process with the qualified job applicant or employee with a disability in need of the accommodation.

The employer, using a problem-solving approach, should:

• Analyze the particular job involved and determine its purpose and essential functions;
• Consult with the individual with a disability to ascertain the precise job-related limitations imposed by the individual's disability and how those limitations could be overcome with a reasonable accommodation;
• In consultation with the individual to be accommodated, identify potential accommodations and assess the effectiveness each would have in enabling the individual to perform the essential functions of the position; and
• Maintain an ongoing dialogue. The interactive process requires communication; any failure to communicate may be interpreted as a sign of bad faith.
• Consider the preference of the individual to be accommodated and select and implement the accommodation that is most appropriate for both the employee and the employer.
• Document all efforts undertaken in the interactive process for purposes of determining an accommodation.

What if the accommodation is obvious? In many instances, the appropriate reasonable accommodation may be so obvious to either or both the employer and the qualified individual with a disability that it may not be necessary to proceed in this step-by-step fashion.

In other instances, however, the reasonable accommodation may entail a multi-step approach as discussed above. The key is to find a right combination that will work to accommodate the need of the employee as well as that of the employer's business operation.

What happens if the interactive process breaks down? If the interactive process breaks down and an employee brings a lawsuit claiming failure to reasonably accommodate, the courts may look to the cause of the breakdown. Courts have recognized that the employee shares responsibility for making the interactive process work by supplying necessary medical information or making accommodation suggestions.