The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) has released new guidance on workplace protections for workers with disabilities. The fact sheet does not appear to create new legal obligations, but it is a useful reminder of California employers’ existing duties to reasonably accommodate employees and applicants with disabilities and to engage in a timely, good-faith interactive process.
California law protects people with disabilities from discrimination at work. These protections include the right to request a reasonable accommodation, which can include a change of workplace practices or policies that will make it possible for a person with disabilities to perform or continue performing the essential functions of their job.
Under California law, a disability is a condition that limits the individual’s ability to perform a major life activity, such as working, walking, concentrating, or communicating. Employees may request a reasonable accommodation at any time during their employment. A request does not need to be in writing, and the employee does not need to use specific legal terms. An employee may request an accommodation even if their disability can be treated with medication, is in remission, only happens sometimes, or is temporary.
Reasonable accommodations may be unique and creative to respond to a person’s specific disability-related needs. Regardless of whether an accommodation request can be granted, employers made aware of an employee’s need for an accommodation must engage in a timely, good-faith interactive process with the employee in a way that does not delay the accommodation process.
CRD’s guidance also reminds employers that accommodation requests should be handled promptly. Even when the requested accommodation cannot be granted as proposed, the employer must continue the interactive process and consider whether another effective accommodation is available. Employers should also consider the employee’s preference, though they may choose a different effective accommodation when more than one option would meet the employee’s disability-related need.
Workplace accommodations can take many forms. Examples include:
- Allowing service animals (i.e., guide dogs) at work to help an employee navigate an office.
- Restructuring job tasks, such as limiting the weight of objects an employee must lift.
- Changing work schedules to accommodate regular medical appointments.
- Allowing remote work.
- Providing additional training to help give an employee more time to learn how to do a task.
The guidance also highlights limits on medical documentation. When the disability or need for accommodation is not obvious, employers may request reasonable medical documentation. But medical inquiry or certification forms should not ask for more information than the employer is legally entitled to receive, such as medical records, a specific diagnosis, or information about the cause of the disability. If the documentation is unclear, the employer should continue the interactive process rather than deny the request outright.
Employers may deny a requested accommodation only in limited circumstances, such as when the individual is not covered by the law, the accommodation would eliminate an essential job function, the accommodation would create an undue hardship, or the accommodation would create a health or safety risk. Even then, employers should continue evaluating whether another accommodation may be effective.
CRD’s fact sheet also briefly addresses reasonable accommodations for employees who are victims, or whose family member is a victim, of certain acts of violence. Those accommodations may include safety measures, reassignment, modified schedules, or other workplace changes.
Employers should use the new CRD fact sheet as an opportunity to review their accommodation policies, medical certification forms, job descriptions, supervisor training, and documentation practices. Frontline supervisors and managers should be trained to recognize accommodation requests, avoid unnecessary medical inquiries, and promptly involve Human Resources or management when an employee raises a disability-related work limitation.
Key resources offered through the CRD’s website include the following: