Reasonable Accommodation Request

• Individuals with a qualifying disability may request the employer to provide them with a reasonable accommodation to aid them to perform the job's essential duties. Follow the employer's process for making a request to increase the chances that the employer will honor it. You should include a number of ways you can be accommodated; not just one. Include information on how the employer can provide the accommodation and the possible cost of doing so. Include a website with accommodation information for the employer.
  
  Employers are required by the ADA to accommodate an individual with a physical or mental condition that affects a major life activity. A wide range of conditions may adversely affect how a person functions in everyday life. Some conditions qualify as a disability such as a visual or hearing impairment, whereas temporary conditions like a cold or flu will not.
  
  

Employers' Right to Refuse

• Employers are allowed to discuss and request medical information that allows them to determine whether they must honor the request and how it can be fulfilled. If your employer disregards your request, you should ask the reason for the rejection. Employers do not have to provide an accommodation if it will cause them a hardship or if your impairment is not a disability. Further, employers do not have to provide the requested accommodation as long as what they do provide is an effective one.
  
  

Failure to Respond

• Employers who do not respond to a reasonable accommodation request may be violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is the Federal agency authorized to conduct investigations of disability discrimination. Contact them by telephone, in writing or in person. They will assist you to file a charge of discrimination against the employer alleging a violation of the law. They will discuss your impairment with you to determine if it is a covered disability.
  
  

Filing a Disability Discrimination Charge

• When contacting the EEOC to file a charge, you need to provide the following information: your personal contact information, employer contact information, circumstances specific to what you are alleging was discriminatory and information about your disability. After submitting the information you will be interviewed and a charge will be drafted for your signature. Once a charge is filed, the employer will be contacted and an investigation may proceed. During an investigation the employer will be required to inform the EEOC of the reason why the reasonable accommodation request was disregarded.