Reasonable accommodation request

Add the situation pack — about $19.99

Accommodation Situation Pack

What usually happens after an accommodation request, and what you can do if it's delayed, declined or agreed only in part.

• Your requested changes listed with the barrier each one solves
• Documentation your employer may ask for
• What the back-and-forth discussion usually looks like
• Options if the arrangement stops being followed

Which state do you work in?

We ask this in the builder before using any state-specific information. Where we don't hold reviewed content for your state, we say so rather than guessing.

General information sources we draw on

• EEOC guidance describes the "interactive process": an informal back-and-forth between an employee and employer to identify the difficulty at work and what change might address it. Requests do not have to use any particular words or form. Whether a person or a request is covered, and whether a change would be an undue hardship, are decisions for the employer, the EEOC or a court — not for RightWords.

  U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

• The Family and Medical Leave Act provides eligible employees of covered employers with unpaid, job-protected leave for certain family and medical reasons, with group health coverage continued during the leave. Eligibility depends on length of service, hours worked and employer size — the Department of Labor's eligibility page sets out the current tests.

  U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division

• EEOC guidance explains that retaliation for raising a discrimination concern is treated as a separate issue from the concern itself, and that protection can apply even where the original complaint is not upheld, provided it was raised in good faith. Keeping a dated record of what you raised and what happened afterwards is generally useful.

  U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission