Public Employers' Obligation to Reasonably Accommodate the Disabled under the Rehabilitation and Americans with Disabilities Acts

Abstract

Effective July 22, 1992, the Americans with Disabilities Act, in conjunction with the Rehabilitation Act, will prohibit virtually all public employers from employment discrimination against individuals with disabilities. Compliance with these statutes requires employers to make modifications —called “reasonable accommodations”—which permit individuals with disabilities to perform the “essential functions” of the position they hold or seek. The Article examines issues on which there is little literature: when, and to what extent, do these statutes require an employer to modify the job or the workplace to accommodate an individual with a disability? Resolution of these questions requires consideration of three additional, interrelated questions. First, what are the “essential functions” of a position? Second, are there accommodations which would permit the individual to perform its essential functions? Third, would the proposed accommodations impose an “undue hardship” on the employer?