Purpose

To require a standardized process for employees with known disabilities to request accommodations and to clarify how reasonable accommodations should be determined and provided. The bill aims to strengthen protections for job applicants and employees with disabilities by outlining steps for requesting accommodations and defining when accommodations are and are not required.

Main provisions

• Establishes that employers with 25 or more employees must provide a reasonable accommodation to job applicants or qualified employees with a disability, unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship or is blocked by a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ).
• Requires the employer, upon request, to provide a job accommodation request form to an individual who discloses a disability and to begin an informal interactive process to identify limitations and possible accommodations.
• Defines reasonable accommodation as actions taken to accommodate known physical or mental limitations of a qualified individual with a disability.
• Provides example accommodations, which may include making facilities accessible, restructuring duties, modifying work schedules, reassigning to a vacant position, acquiring or modifying equipment or devices, and providing aides, on a temporary or periodic basis.
• Lists factors to consider when determining whether an accommodation would impose undue hardship, including:
  • the overall size of the business and workforce
  • the number and type of facilities and the location where work would occur
  • the nature and cost of the needed accommodation
  • the organization’s ability to finance the accommodation at each site
  • documented good faith efforts to explore less restrictive or less expensive alternatives, including consultation with the disabled person or knowledgeable disability organizations
• States that a job applicant does not need to be paid for an accommodation if an alternative source provides it at no cost to the employer or applicant.
• Requires the commissioner to develop and make available a job accommodation request form for use by employers, agencies, or organizations subject to these requirements.
• At minimum, the form must allow an employee who discloses a disability to identify the limitations and potential accommodations that could address those limitations.

Significant changes to existing law

• Codifies a mandatory process for requesting accommodations by requiring a job accommodation request form and an interactive process, creating a clearer and more consistent approach to accommodations.
• Explicitly ties the accommodation process to an “unfair employment practice” standard, with a presumption that failure to provide reasonable accommodation may be unlawful unless an undue hardship or BFOQ applies.
• Introduces specific procedures and form development by the state (commissioner) to standardize how accommodations are requested and documented.
• Shifts emphasis to considering job applicants alongside current employees, expanding protections to applicants seeking employment as well as current staff.

Relevant Terms disability; reasonable accommodation; job accommodation request form; interactive process; undue hardship; bona fide occupational qualification; unfair employment practice; employer; job applicant; qualified employee; accommodations (facilities accessibility, restructuring, work schedule modification, reassignment, equipment modification, aides); commissioner; alternative source; cost/no-cost accommodation.