In New York, federal, state and local laws protect individuals with disabilities from discrimination in the workplace, at their residence, and in public accommodations. One scenario the agencies charged with enforcement of these laws sometimes see involves an individual who was terminated from his job, or evicted from her apartment, after making a request for a reasonable accommodation. When an employee with a disability makes a request for a reasonable accommodation, the employer is obligated under New York law to initiate a dialogue with the employee about the request called an interactive process.

This article looks at reasonable accommodation requests when they are made in the contexts of housing and places of public accommodation, concluding that although the interactive process is not required by New York courts in these contexts, it may be a prudent way to address and resolve reasonable accommodation requests and prevent a frustrated tenant or patron from taking the matter to court or his state or local human rights commission.

Fair Housing

The federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) forbids discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, or national origin.1 The Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA) of 1988 extended the FHA's principle of equal opportunity in housing to individuals with disabilities.2 One form of unlawful disability discrimination prohibited by the FHAA, with similar provisions found in state and local human rights laws, is a “refusal to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services when such accommodations may be necessary to afford a person with a disability the equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.”3