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Federal employees who have disabilities are entitled to request reasonable accommodations so that they can perform their work safely and comfortably. While federal employers are not necessarily required to grant these requests in all circumstances, they must handle employees’ reasonable accommodation requests in good faith. If you need to request a reasonable accommodation—or if your request for a reasonable accommodation has been denied—keep reading to find out what you need to know from an experienced Maryland federal employment attorney.
Understanding Federal Employees’ Rights to Reasonable Accommodations Under the Rehabilitation Act
Federal employees are generally entitled to the same disability-related protections as employees in the private sector. All federal employers must comply with the Rehabilitation Act; and, as the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division explains, “[t]he standards for determining employment discrimination under the Rehabilitation Act are the same as those used in title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act [(ADA)].”
As the Civil Rights Division also explains:
“Title I [of the ADA] requires employers . . . to provide qualified individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to benefit from the full range of employment-related opportunities available to others. . . . and it requires that employers make reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of otherwise qualified individuals with disabilities, unless it results in undue hardship.”
With this in mind, there are three key aspects to federal employees’ right to reasonable accommodations under the Rehabilitation Act. These key aspects are:
1. The Employee’s Disability Must Be “Known” to the Employer
In order for a federal employer to be responsible for providing a reasonable accommodation for an employee’s disability, the disability must be “known” to the employer. Generally, this means that employees must request the disability accommodations they need.
There is no specific method of requesting a reasonable accommodation under the Rehabilitation Act. As the U.S. Equal Employment Commission (EEOC) makes clear, “[t]o request accommodation, an individual may use ‘plain English’ and need not mention the ADA [or Rehabilitation Act] or use the phrase ‘reasonable accommodation.’” With that said, federal employees will generally want to make their requests as clear as possible, and it certainly does not hurt to explicitly request a “reasonable accommodation” based on a federal employee’s specific needs.
2. The Requested Disability Accommodation Must Be “Reasonable”
Federal employers are only required to grant requests for “reasonable” disability accommodations (and, as discussed below, they are not required to grant even reasonable accommodations if they would cause “undue hardship”). So, what does it mean for a disability accommodation to be “reasonable”?
As the EEOC explains, reasonable accommodations for current federal employees can fall into one of two broad categories:
- “[M]odifications or adjustments to the work environment, or to the manner or circumstances under which the position held or desired is customarily performed, that enable a qualified individual with a disability to perform the essential functions of [a] position;” or,
- “[M]odifications or adjustments that enable a covered entity’s employee with a disability to enjoy equal benefits and privileges of employment as are enjoyed by its other similarly situated employees without disabilities.”
Within these categories, reasonable modifications can involve changes to federal employees’ work locations, work schedules, work responsibilities, work environments, and/or other employment conditions.
With that said, a requested accommodation won’t necessarily be considered “reasonable” just because it falls into one of these categories, and what is reasonable in one situation might not be considered reasonable in another. All disability accommodation requests are considered (or should be considered) on a case-by-case basis. When requesting accommodations for their disabilities, federal employees will benefit from working with an experienced Maryland federal employment attorney who can help them formulate a request that is designed to meet the Rehabilitation Act’s “reasonableness” requirement.
3. The Requested Disability Accommodation Must Not Cause “Undue Hardship”
Even if a disabled employee’s request for a reasonable accommodation is reasonable, a federal employer is not required to provide the accommodation if doing so would cause “undue hardship.” As the EEOC explains, “undue hardship” means “significant difficulty or expense and focuses on the resources and circumstances of the particular employer in relationship to the cost or difficulty of providing a specific accommodation.”
The federal government has vast resources, and, as a result, demonstrating “undue hardship” in the federal sector can be significantly more difficult than establishing “undue hardship” in the private sector. Even so, there are limits to the federal government’s obligations under the Rehabilitation Act—and, as the EEOC also makes clear, undue hardship “refers not only to financial difficulty,” but also to, “reasonable accommodations that are unduly . . . disruptive, or those that would fundamentally alter the nature or operation of the [employer].” Here, too, federal employees can help minimize their risk of denial by working with an experienced Maryland federal employment attorney.
It is also important to note that even if a particular requested disability accommodation would create an undue hardship, this is not the end of the matter. Generally, if a federal employer intends to deny a disability accommodation request based on undue hardship, it must work with the employee to find a mutually agreeable solution. Oftentimes, there will be a variety of options for meeting an employee’s disability-related needs, and complying with the Rehabilitation Act will involve working with the employee to find something that works for both parties.
In short, in the vast majority of circumstances, federal employees who need disability accommodations (and who request reasonable accommodations through the appropriate channels) should be able to achieve a satisfactory outcome. When federal employers fail to comply with the Rehabilitation Act, federal employees can—and should—take legal action to hold them accountable.
Schedule a Call with a Maryland Federal Employment Attorney Today
If you have questions about requesting a reasonable accommodation or about how to respond to a denial of your request, we invite you to contact us. To schedule a call with a Maryland federal employment attorney at The Law Firm of J.W. Stafford, please call 410-514-6099 or contact us confidentially online today.