Josh Goodbaum: Hi, Amanda.
Amanda DeMatteis: Hi, Josh. What are we gonna talk about today?
Goodbaum: I want to talk about reasonable accommodations for disabilities. We talk about reasonable accommodations a lot in our videos, and one of the things we often say is, “Well, you’re entitled to a reasonable accommodation if you can’t do your job without one.”
But that’s not really what the law is, and there’s a new case from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where Connecticut sits, that helps clarify what the law is in this area. Could you tell folks about that and what they need to know about when they are entitled to a reasonable accommodation?
DeMatteis: Absolutely, Josh. The case is called Tudor v. Whitehall Central School District. It was just decided March 25, 2025, so this is super recent, and what it holds is that an employee may qualify for a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act even if she can perform the essential functions of her job without the accommodation. And the court reminds us that the ability to perform the essential functions of your job is relevant to an employee that brings a claim against their employer for failure to accommodate, but it’s not dispositive.
So, what does this mean? Well, let’s say that you are able to perform the essential functions of your job, but there might be an accommodation that’ll allow you to do that in less pain. Say, for instance, I can perform the essential functions of being a lawyer, but my back hurts with this chair that I’m sitting on right now. So, maybe I can request a reasonable accommodation of a different chair, an ergonomic chair, something that helps the pain in my back. I am entitled to that reasonable accommodation, so long as it does not impose an undue hardship on my employer under the ADA. Think of other things – maybe a blue light reflective cover for your computer screen if you have an eye issue, or the ability to get up every hour or so to relieve some type of pain that you have.
In the Tudor case, the plaintiff was a teacher who had long-standing PTSD. She asked to leave campus for one 15-minute break during her prep periods, both in the morning and in the afternoon. Her employer did this for a period of time, showing that it could provide this reasonable accommodation without there being an undue hardship, and then all of a sudden, it pulled the plug on that reasonable accommodation. The teacher could do her job without leaving campus, but leaving campus for short breaks made her disability much easier to manage. The Tudor case says that, even if you can perform your job without a reasonable accommodation, that doesn’t mean you’re not entitled to one.
Remember that, to prove a case for failure to accommodate a disability, you ask whether the employee can perform the essential functions of their job with or without a reasonable accommodation. The key takeaway here for employees is, if you can do your job in less pain or more comfortably on account of your disability with a reasonable accommodation, you are entitled to an accommodation if it does not impose an undue hardship on your employer, and you should talk to your employer about that accommodation, because you are protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Goodbaum: Really important information, Amanda, and if you’re watching this and thinking, “I might need or want an accommodation for my disability,” we have other videos that tell you the steps you should follow in order to request that accommodation. Thanks so much, Amanda; thank you all for watching; and we’ll see you next time.