We have heard of situations in Westchester County where an employee has developed some sort of medical condition and whereby the employee can still work but he or she needs some modifications and the question arises as to what modification the employer has to agree to and the answer depends on a number of factors. First of all, it depends on the size of the employer, again under federal law we are talking about fifteen or more employees and under state laws covered employees are four or more employees but the real key is whether the accommodation is reasonable looking at a number of factors that the law sets out. You have to ask your employer for the accommodation, you need to be specifying what the accommodation is then and then there is supposed to be, what is called an interactive process between the employee and the employer to come to an accommodation that’s doable and what is practical and reasonable may depend upon the size of the employer, the cost of the modification in the work place. If it’s a matter of getting a different kind of desk and we’ve heard those situations we are going to say that most employers are required to do that. If it means building a different office depending on the size of the employer and the cost of the modification an employer may not be required to do that. If it means changing the job specifications generally speaking the employer is not going to be required to accommodate an employee to that extent.
This informational blog post was provided by Jane Gould, an experienced New York Employee Lawyer.
