Employer-Provided Leave and the Americans with Disabilities Act

Issues Related to the Interactive Process and Return to Work

If an employee returns from a leave of absence with restrictions from his or her doctor, the employer may ask why the restrictions are required and how long they may be needed, and it may explore with the employee and his doctor (or other health care professional) possible accommodations that will enable the employee to perform the essential functions of the job consistent with the doctor's recommended limitations. In some situations, there may be more than one way to meet a medical restriction.

Example 15: An employee with a disability has been out on leave for three months. The employee's doctor releases her to return to work, but imposes a medical restriction requiring her to take a 15-minute break every 90 minutes. Taking a rest break is a form of reasonable accommodation. When the employer asks the purpose of the break, the doctor explains that the employee needs to sit for 15 minutes after standing and walking for 90 minutes. The employer asks if the employee could do seated work during the break; the doctor says yes. To comply with the ADA, the employer rearranges when certain marginal functions are performed so that the employee can perform those job duties when seated and therefore not take the 15-minute break.

If necessary, an employer should initiate the interactive process upon receiving a request for reasonable accommodation from an employee on leave for a disability who wants to return to work (or after receiving a doctor's note outlining work restrictions). Some issues that may need to be explored include:

• the specific accommodation(s) an employee requires;

• the reason an accommodation or work restriction is needed (that is, the limitations that prevent an employee from returning to work without reasonable accommodation);

• the length of time an employee will need the reasonable accommodation;

• possible alternative accommodations that might effectively meet the employee's disability-related needs; and

• whether any of the accommodations would cause an undue hardship.