Holding the line on telework as reasonable accommodation

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently issued guidance on the use of telework as a reasonable accommodation for a disability. Although directed to the federal government sector, the guidance still provides valuable counsel on the limits of when an employer needs to consider telework as an accommodation.

You don’t have to say ‘yes’

Some employees ask for telework because it will help them better manage their condition, mitigate their symptoms, or improve their quality of life. 

Here’s the EEOC guidance stating the matter directly:

To say that an employer must provide accommodations that only mitigate symptoms of disability without also enabling the performance of essential [job] functions is indistinguishable from requiring the [employer] to directly treat the disability.

Here are some analogous case examples:

·     Burnett v. W. Res. Inc., 929 F. Supp. 1349, 1358 (D. Kan., 1996): Employers aren’t required to provide rehab services to a disabled employee with a knee impairment.