The law protects people with disabling medical conditions from discrimination. Employers should not consider a worker’s medical challenges when deciding who to hire, promote or terminate. In fact, employers often have an obligation to offer reasonable accommodations that allow workers with medical conditions to do their jobs safely and effectively.
Remote work or a hybrid work model involving occasional remote work is a common accommodation request. Workers with chronic pain, functional limitations or compromised immune systems may be safer and more comfortable working from home than in an on-site location. White-collar employees, in particular, can often do their jobs remotely.
After years of embracing remote and hybrid work policies, many businesses have started issuing return-to-office orders. Workers may have to come to work in person. Does requiring in-person work constitute disability discrimination?
Workers may need to request specific accommodations
Many hybrid and remote work policies were the result of government policies that limited public access. As the need for those policies has diminished over time, more companies have transitioned away from preferring or allowing remote and hybrid work arrangements.
Many employees who started remote or hybrid work positions may not have communicated with their employers about the medical necessity of those arrangements. Instead, they may have simply utilized what the company offered. A return-to-work order in that situation is not necessarily a form of disability discrimination. The employer may not even be aware that the worker requires reasonable accommodations because of their health challenges.
Employees may need to submit a written note from a physician explaining that remote work is necessary because of the employee’s medical condition. The letter from the physician may need to outline alternative reasonable accommodations that could allow the worker to do their job safely in the office as well. Provided that the company has 15 or more employees, the requirement for reasonable accommodations enshrined in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies.
Allowing individual workers to continue doing their jobs on a remote or hybrid basis is an accommodation that most employers can provide without any significant hardship. In cases where an employer refuses to work with an employee who has provided documentation of their need to continue a remote work arrangement, then the situation may potentially constitute disability discrimination.
Reviewing medical records and communications with management with a skilled legal team can help people determine whether a violation of their rights occurred. Workers who need disability accommodations may have grounds for a discrimination claim if an employer refuses to provide them the support necessary for them to work safely.
