Questions and Answers about Deafness and Hearing Impairments in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act

12. Does an employer have to grant every request for a reasonable accommodation?

No. An employer does not have to provide an accommodation if doing so would be an undue hardship. Undue hardship means that providing the reasonable accommodation will result in significant difficulty or expense. An employer also does not have to eliminate an essential function of a job as a reasonable accommodation, tolerate performance that does not meet its standards, or excuse violations of conduct rules that are job-related and consistent with business necessity and that the employer applies consistently to all employees (such as rules prohibiting violence, threatening behavior, theft, or destruction of property). Nor do employers have to provide employees with personal use items, such as hearing aids or other devices that are used both on and off the job.

If more than one accommodation would be effective, the employee's preference should be given primary consideration, although the employer is not required to provide the employee's first choice of reasonable accommodation. If a requested accommodation is too difficult or expensive, an employer may choose to provide an easier or less costly accommodation as long as it is effective in meeting the employee's needs.

Example 18: An employee with a bilateral hearing disability requests use of communication access real-time translation (CART) for an upcoming training. In place of the CART device, the employer suggests an assistive listening device (ALD) because it is less expensive than CART. Twelve managers and supervisors are scheduled to take the training in a conference room at the employer's offices. Much of the information will be presented in a lecture format, accompanied by slides with printed information. The size of the room, the number of participants in the training, and the format of the training make it possible for the employee to use a portable assistive listening system effectively. The employer may, therefore, provide an ALD instead of CART under these circumstances.

Example 19: A deaf employee requests a sign language interpreter for regular staff meetings. The employer suggests that a co-worker could take notes and share them with the deaf employee or that a summary of the meeting could be prepared. These alternatives are not effective because they do not allow the deaf employee to ask questions and participate in discussions during the meetings as other employees do. Absent undue hardship, the employer must provide a sign language interpreter for the meetings.