Employer-Provided Leave and the Americans with Disabilities Act

Introduction

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment and requires that covered employers (employers with 15 or more employees) provide reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities that require such accommodations due to their disabilities.

A reasonable accommodation is, generally, "any change in the work environment or in the way things are customarily done that enables an individual with a disability to enjoy equal employment opportunities."[2] That can include making modifications to existing leave policies and providing leave when needed for a disability, even where an employer does not offer leave to other employees.[3] As with any other accommodation, the goal of providing leave as an accommodation is to afford employees with disabilities equal employment opportunities.

The EEOC continues to receive charges indicating that some employers may be unaware of Commission positions about leave and the ADA.  For example, some employers may not know that they may have to modify policies that limit the amount of leave employees can take when an employee needs additional leave as a reasonable accommodation.  Employer policies that require employees on extended leave to be 100 percent healed or able to work without restrictions may deny some employees reasonable accommodations that would enable them to return to work.  Employers also sometimes fail to consider reassignment as an option for employees with disabilities who cannot return to their jobs following leave.

This document seeks to provide general information to employers and employees regarding when and how leave must be granted for reasons related to an employee's disability in order to promote voluntary compliance with the ADA. It is consistent with the EEOC's regulations enforcing Title I of the ADA, as well as the EEOC's 2002 Revised Enforcement Guidance: Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (a link to the Guidance appears at the end of this document).

[2] 29 C.F.R. pt. 1630 app. §1630.2(o).

[3] Employers also may have to provide leave mandated by Federal, state, or local laws. For example, the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires employers with 50 or more employees to provide up to 12 weeks of leave per year to eligible employees. The FMLA covers private sector employers with 50 or more employees in 20 or more workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year. The law also covers local, state, or Federal government agencies, as well as public or private elementary or secondary schools, regardless of the number of employees. An eligible employee must: (1) have worked for a covered employer for at least 12 months, (2) have worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12-month period immediately preceding the leave, and (3) work at a location where the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles. More information on the FMLA is available at www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs28.pdf. The EEOC previously issued a Fact Sheet concerning the interaction of FMLA, ADA, and Title VII rights, available at https://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/fmlaada.html.