A workplace accident or injury can change the life of a person forever. They might lose their job for a while or need accommodations at the workplace to return to work after recovery. The government understands that. It is why the California Fair Employment and Housing Act is there to ensure reasonable accommodation is offered to employees with disability. Read on to learn everything you need to know about reasonable accommodation for employees with a disability. 

What’s in the California Fair Employment and Housing Act?

According to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, employers of five or more employees need to provide reasonable accommodation for individuals with a physical or mental disability to apply for jobs and perform the essential functions of their jobs unless it would cause an undue hardship. 

What’s Included in Reasonable Accommodation?

According to California Fair Employment and Housing Act, reasonable accommodation can include, but is not limited to, the following:

• Changing the job duties of an employee 
• Changing the work schedules of an employee
• Providing leave for medical care to an employee
• Providing medical or electrical aids to an employee
• Relocating the work area of an employee

Other Rights

You should also know that employees with disabilities might have separate rights to unpaid leave according to the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act or the California Family Rights Act.

The Process

When a job applicant or an employee requests reasonable accommodations, the employers need to initiate an “interactive process.” It is also essential for an employer to offer to initiate the interactive process when an employer is made aware of an employee’s possible need for accommodation. This awareness might come via personal observation, reporting by a third party, and in situations where an employee has exhausted leave benefits but still needs a reasonable accommodation to do their work.

If an employer fails to engage in a timely and good faith interactive process in California, it is considered unlawful and can lead to legal action against the employer. 

The interactive process aims to remove barriers that stop people from performing jobs that they can do with some form of accommodation. 

In the process, there is an individualized assessment of the job and the physical/mental limitations of the employee that can be directly linked to the need for reasonable accommodation.

Talk to an Expert!

If you need more information on reasonable accommodations for an employee with a disability or you want to make the return to work simpler, you can connect with the team of Laura M. Wilson & Associates Inc. 

We provide a broad array of services such as SJDB Service, RTWSP Service, Expert Witness, Vocational Evaluation, Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling Services, and Transferable Skills Analysis. All these services will help make the return to work process easy and uncomplicated. 

Our vocational rehabilitation counselors will decide which services are right for you and offer a solution that helps you return to work and retain your job if you want to. To book a one-on-one session with one of our experts, book an appointment here or call us toll-free at (800) 531-5608.