ADA Reasonable Accommodation Examples in the Workplace

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, reasonable accommodations in the workplace can take many forms: a ramp or a wider doorway, an adjusted schedule, a task swapped with a coworker, screen-reading software, permission to work from home, quiet space for someone managing anxiety, or reassignment to another open position when nothing else works. The common thread is that each change removes a barrier so a qualified employee with a disability can do the job. Below are the categories the law recognizes, with concrete examples of each, followed by how to ask for one and what your options are if the answer is no.

Physical Changes to the Workplace

Structural accommodations remove physical barriers in the building itself. Installing a ramp is the classic example; under the ADA Accessibility Standards, a ramp must have a slope no steeper than 1:12 and a minimum clear width of 36 inches.¹ Widening doorways for wheelchair access and modifying restrooms with grab bars or lowered sinks fall in the same category.²

Workstation changes are usually simpler. A height-adjustable desk lets someone alternate between sitting and standing or fits a wheelchair underneath. An ergonomic chair or lumbar support helps an employee with a chronic back condition stay comfortable through the day. These are furniture swaps, not construction projects.

Environmental adjustments matter too, and they are easy to miss. Replacing flickering fluorescent lights with dimmable or flicker-free alternatives helps employees with sensory sensitivities or chronic migraines. Moving a desk away from a high-traffic hallway or adding air filtration can address respiratory conditions.

Flexible Schedules and Leave

The statute explicitly lists modified work schedules as a form of reasonable accommodation.³ Common examples include shifting start and end times to accommodate morning medical appointments, moving to a part-time schedule when fatigue or treatment side effects make full-time hours impossible, and taking intermittent leave for recurring therapy or dialysis.

Leave itself qualifies when an employee needs time off for surgery, recovery, or intensive treatment. The ADA can require unpaid leave beyond an employer’s standard policy.⁴ Unlike the Family and Medical Leave Act, which caps job-protected unpaid leave at 12 workweeks per year for eligible employees, the ADA sets no fixed number of weeks.⁵ The question is whether the amount requested creates an undue hardship for the employer.

Indefinite leave is different. Courts have consistently held that leave with no approximate return-to-work date is not a reasonable accommodation. If you need extended time off, come to the conversation with a realistic timeline, even if approximate.

Changing How Tasks and Rules Apply

Not every accommodation involves construction or a new schedule. Job restructuring means reassigning marginal, non-essential tasks to someone else. If a clerical employee’s core job is data entry but they occasionally get asked to move heavy boxes, the lifting can be shifted to a coworker. The essential work stays with the employee; the incidental duty moves.

Policy exceptions are another common adjustment. An employee with diabetes may need to eat at their desk to manage blood sugar, even where food is normally banned at workstations. A worker with a psychiatric service dog can bring it into a building that otherwise prohibits animals. Someone with ADHD may need noise-canceling headphones in an open-plan office that discourages personal electronics. Rigid rules that refuse to bend for disability-related needs are exactly the kind of barriers the ADA targets.

Testing and training procedures fit here too. An employer may need to provide training materials in accessible formats, allow extra time on a certification exam, or offer alternative ways to absorb content. If a test is timed, extra time can make sure the exam measures what the employee knows rather than how fast they process information.

Performance Standards Stay the Same

Employers are not required to lower performance or production standards. An accommodation should give you a fair shot at meeting the same benchmarks that apply to others in the same role. What changes is the conditions under which you work, not the results you are expected to produce.

Assistive Technology and Communication Aids

Acquiring or modifying equipment is another accommodation the statute specifically names.³ Screen-reading software converts digital documents into audio or braille output for employees who are blind or have low vision. Voice-to-text software lets employees with limited manual dexterity work without a keyboard. Adjusting mouse sensitivity or providing an alternative input device addresses similar barriers.

Communication aids help employees with hearing impairments participate fully: closed captioning for video conferences, sign language interpreters at meetings, TTY or video relay for phone calls. For visual impairments, materials in large print or braille, or a reader assigned to specific tasks, can open up information that would otherwise be inaccessible.

Working From Home

Remote work can qualify as a reasonable accommodation when a disability prevents on-site work and the job itself can be done from home.⁶ The central question is whether physical presence in the office is an essential function of the role. A data analyst who works independently at a computer has a stronger case than a receptionist who greets visitors in person.

Factors that shape the analysis include whether the employer can supervise remotely, whether the job requires face-to-face contact with coworkers or clients, and whether necessary equipment or documents exist only at the worksite.⁶ Telework doesn’t have to be permanent. A temporary arrangement during surgical recovery or a flare-up of a chronic condition is legitimate. And employers don’t have to relax production standards just because someone is working from home.

Accommodations for Mental Health Conditions

Depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, and similar conditions are covered when they substantially limit a major life activity such as concentrating, sleeping, or interacting with others. Accommodations tend to be less visible than a ramp, but the same legal framework applies.

Common examples:

Breaks timed to individual needs rather than a fixed schedule, including phone breaks to reach a therapist or support person during work hours.
Room dividers, partitions, relocation to a quieter workspace, or permission to use headphones to reduce noise.
Adjusted start times, part-time hours, or leave for therapy appointments.
Telework when the workplace environment worsens symptoms and the job can be done remotely.
Sick leave or unpaid time off during acute episodes, with a structured return plan.

These are among the least expensive accommodations to implement, and many cost nothing at all.⁷ The protection applies whether your condition is visible or invisible.

Reassignment to a Vacant Position

Reassignment is the accommodation of last resort. It applies only after the employer has determined that no other adjustment would let you perform the essential functions of your current job, or that all other options would impose an undue hardship.⁸ The employer must look for a vacant position equivalent in pay, status, and benefits. If nothing equivalent is open, they may offer a lower-level role you’re qualified to fill.

The limits are firm. The employer doesn’t have to create a new job, bump another employee out of one, or offer you a promotion; you’d have to compete for a promotion like any other applicant.⁸ Reassignment also applies only to current employees, not to job applicants.

How to Request an Accommodation

You don’t need a special form. You don’t need to cite the ADA or use the phrase “reasonable accommodation.” You just need to tell your employer that you need a change at work because of a medical condition. A verbal request counts, though putting it in writing creates a record that helps if a dispute arises.

Once you make the request, the employer should engage in what the EEOC calls an “informal, interactive process” to figure out what will work.⁸ In practice, that means a back-and-forth conversation. You describe the barrier; the employer explores solutions. Sometimes the fix is obvious. Sometimes it takes medical documentation and several rounds of discussion.

You don’t have to know the exact accommodation you need. Describing the problem is enough, though suggestions help. Saying “I can’t concentrate because of noise” gives the employer more to work with than “I need an accommodation.” The employer can ask about your functional limitations and may request documentation from your healthcare provider confirming the need. What they cannot do is ignore the request or refuse to engage. An employer that stonewalls the interactive process risks liability even if a court later decides no effective accommodation existed.

One boundary worth flagging up front: these employment protections apply to employers with at least 15 employees, along with state and local governments, employment agencies, and labor unions.⁹ If your employer is smaller, state disability discrimination law may still cover you, often with a lower employee threshold. You also have to be a “qualified individual,” meaning you can perform the essential functions of the job with or without an accommodation.³

When an Employer Can Say No

The ADA doesn’t require every accommodation an employee requests. The limit is “undue hardship,” meaning significant difficulty or expense. The statute lists four factors:

The nature and net cost of the accommodation.
The financial resources and number of employees at the specific facility where the accommodation is needed.
The overall financial resources, size, and number of facilities of the employer as a whole.
The type of operations, workforce structure, and how the accommodation would affect the facility’s ability to function.

These are evaluated case by case.³ What counts as undue hardship for a 20-person company may be trivial for a large employer. A $5,000 accommodation that strains a small nonprofit’s budget looks different at a company with $50 million in revenue.

According to research from the Job Accommodation Network, a service of the U.S. Department of Labor, roughly 61% of workplace accommodations cost nothing at all, and among those with a one-time cost the median is about $300. Cost is rarely the real obstacle. Breakdowns usually happen because one side or the other stopped engaging in the interactive process.

If Your Request Is Denied

If your employer refuses to engage in the interactive process, denies your request without a legitimate undue-hardship justification, or retaliates against you for asking, you have options. The ADA explicitly prohibits retaliation: your employer cannot fire, demote, or punish you for requesting an accommodation or filing a complaint.¹⁰

The usual first step is filing a charge of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The deadline is generally 180 days from the discriminatory act, extended to 300 days if a state or local agency also enforces disability discrimination laws in your area. The EEOC will investigate and may try to resolve the matter through mediation or conciliation before any lawsuit is filed.

Remedies under the ADA mirror those available under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, including back pay, reinstatement, compensatory damages, and attorney’s fees.¹¹ An employer that participated in the interactive process in good faith, even one that ultimately failed to provide an effective accommodation, may have a stronger defense against punitive damages. That is one reason documenting every step of the conversation matters for both sides.

1
U.S. Access Board. Guide to the ADA Accessibility Standards – Chapter 4 Ramps and Curb Ramps
2
eCFR. 29 CFR Part 1630 – Regulations to Implement the Equal Employment Provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 12111 – Definitions
4
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Employer-Provided Leave and the Americans with Disabilities Act
5
U.S. Department of Labor. FMLA Frequently Asked Questions
6
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Work at Home/Telework as a Reasonable Accommodation
7
U.S. Department of Labor. Accommodations for Employees with Mental Health Conditions
8
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship Under the ADA
9
ADA.gov. Introduction to the Americans with Disabilities Act
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 12203 – Prohibition Against Retaliation and Coercion
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 12117 – Enforcement