26 Jun Do We Have To Provide Accommodation Under The ADA For An Employee To Work Remotely?
Answered by the HR Experts: No, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) doesn’t require that employers provide accommodations to employees because they have a family member who is disabled. You’re only required to provide an accommodation under the ADA when the employee themselves has a qualifying disability and if doing so wouldn’t cause an undue hardship (i.e., something that would require significant difficulty or expense).
That said, if you’ve allowed other employees who do similar jobs to work remotely, you should consider doing so in this case. The ADA prohibits discrimination against an employee on the basis of being associated with someone (such as a family member) who is disabled. So, while there’s no hard and fast obligation to accommodate an employee because of their family member’s disability, it’s possible that the employee could still claim associational disability discrimination if the employer denies their accommodation request while granting the same sort of request for others.
You can reduce the likelihood of discrimination claims by treating similarly situated employees consistently and communicating the legitimate business reasons for denying a request.
You can learn more about employer responsibilities under the ADA on the platform.
Original content by the Mineral Platform. This information is provided with the understanding that Payroll Partners is not rendering legal, human resources, or other professional advice or service. Professional advice on specific issues should be sought from a lawyer, HR consultant or other