The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and courts alike have long recognized that the identification and provision of reasonable accommodations in the workplace is a central feature of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA requires employers to make “reasonable accommodations to the known … limitations of an otherwise qualified individual with a disability where such an accommodation does not cause the employer undue hardship.” In general, an accommodation is any change in the work environment or in the way things are customarily done that enables an individual with a disability to apply for a job or perform the essential functions of the job.

There are a number of possible reasonable accommodations that an employer may have to provide. Among these potential accommodations are modifications or adjustments to workplace policies. As technological advances have altered the understanding of the workplace, the EEOC and most courts have taken the position that where work is performed is just another policy that may have to be modified for certain jobs and may therefore be a reasonable accommodation. The reasonableness of telecommuting has recently been addressed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Ford Motor, 6th Cir., en banc, No. 12-2484 (April 10, 2015), which provides more clarity to employers on how to assess the reasonableness of an employee’s request to telework.

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