My employer denied me the reasonable accommodation I requested due to “undue hardship.” What is undue hardship?

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My employer denied me the reasonable accommodation I requested due to “undue hardship.” What is undue hardship?

When employees with disabilities request reasonable accommodations to keep them working, employers have a legal duty to provide the accommodation unless doing so would result in an undue hardship. Undue hardship means that the business would experience significant difficulty or expenses in making the appropriate accommodations.

There is a high bar for establishing undue hardship. It does not simply mean the employer is inconvenienced or burdened. Under California law, several important factors must be considered when determining whether undue hardship exists, including the following:

  • Costs of the accommodations to the employer
  • Size of the employer, including the number of employees and available financial resources
  • Type of work the employer performs and how the business is structured
  • Effect of the accommodation on the operations of the workplace

The employer has the burden of proving that the employee’s requested accommodation would cause undue hardship. Sometimes employers may try to use undue hardship as an excuse to deny an employee’s request for reasonable accommodations.

If your employer is unlawfully avoiding discussing reasonable accommodations with you or refusing to provide them even though no undue hardship exists, speak to an experienced San Francisco employment lawyer. You may have a disability discrimination claim against your employer.

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