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Accommodation Requires Knowledge of the Need Generally, the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") requires that an employer provide reasonable accommodations to a qualified individual with a disability who, with such accommodation, would otherwise perform the essential job functions of his or her employment. Recently, an appellate court stated that an employee must request such accommodation, or an employer must otherwise be on notice of such need, before liability under the ADA is incurred. Summers v. Teichert & Son, Inc., 97 Daily Journal DAR 13363. Ross' Review: It has to come as some comfort that a court is willing to not punish an employer for not fixing a problem it didn't know it had. The positive result of this case, however, screams for an employer's use of employee policy manuals. In that context, the requirements of the ADA should be described to employees, but also, it should be made clear to employees that if an individual desires to be accommodated due to a disability, at a minimum, he or she should at least ask for the accommodation, to give the employer the opportunity to do so. |