Human Resource Blog

Vermont ADA

I’ve heard that under federal and Vermont law, employers must make “reasonable accommodations” for disabled employees. What does that mean?

The best way to get an idea is to go back in history to the days before “reasonable accommodation,” and start from there. Before the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990, an employer had no legal need to make any kinds of accommodations for disabled workers. Businesses and public agencies could build barriers that made buildings inaccessible to the disabled, if they wished. Even a curb could become a major obstacle, preventing disabled workers from using some facilities.

Now, under the ADA, employers must make what are called “reasonable accommodations.”

But the definition of “reasonable accommodation” will vary a little bit, from one job site to another, and from one employer or business to another.

Here are two examples that might make this clearer:

Adding a wheelchair ramp” might be a “reasonable accommodation.’ The cost to a small employer might not be as much as  $400, and that would qualify as a reasonable accommodation. Now imagine that your business is in an office on the 3^rd floor of an old building with no elevator. Because this is a crowded city, there’s no room for a ramp. Putting in a new elevator could cost more than $20,000, and that would be in a building that you don’t own. Clearly, that would not be a “reasonable accommodation,” and it is likely that a court would agree. Keep in mind that when an owner renovates a building, he or she will probably be required to put in an elevator in order to make the building accessible to the disabled.

Or consider the situation of a salesperson. In most cases, salespeople drive their own cars to client appointments and receive mileage reimbursement from their employers. An employee with epilepsy may not be able to drive, so reimbursing him or her for taxi or bus rides to those appointments would qualify as a “reasonable accommodation,” even if cab fare may be slightly more expensive than reimbursement for gas. Obviously, providing a limousine and a personal driver would not be a “reasonable accommodation,” because that would be far more expensive than mileage reimbursement. JH