What Can You Do When a California Employer Denies a Reasonable Accommodation?

Quick Answer

If a California employer denies a disability accommodation, ask for the reason, explain your work-related limitations, and discuss effective alternatives. Employers covered by FEHA generally must provide reasonable accommodation unless it causes undue hardship and must participate in a timely, good-faith interactive process. You are not automatically entitled to your preferred solution, but a blanket refusal or unexplained delay may warrant legal review.

Start With What Was Requested and What Was Denied

An accommodation request can be simple. You need a different start time for treatment. A stool would let you perform tasks usually done standing. You need a short medical leave before returning to work. A flat “we do not make exceptions” does not explain whether the employer considered your situation.

Before deciding your options, separate three questions: what limitation affects your work, what change would address it, and what reason did the employer give for refusing? Our reasonable accommodation glossary explains the term. The next step is a specific discussion about the job.

Who Has a Duty to Consider Accommodation?

California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act generally requires employers with five or more employees to reasonably accommodate qualifying physical or mental disabilities unless doing so creates undue hardship. The federal ADA generally applies at 15 employees. Different rules can apply to pregnancy, religious accommodation, and other protected needs.

An accommodation should help a qualified employee perform essential job functions or provide equal employment opportunity. The law does not generally require an employer to eliminate essential functions, lower a legitimate production standard, or create a position. It does require examining effective adjustments rather than relying on assumptions.

Does a Request Have to Use Legal Language?

You generally do not need to say “FEHA” or “reasonable accommodation.” Explain that a medical limitation creates a work-related problem and that you need an adjustment. A conversation can start the process, although written follow-up helps preserve what was said.

For example: “My medical restriction prevents prolonged standing for the next six weeks. Could we discuss a stool or another way to perform these duties?” This states the limitation and a possible solution without making unsupported claims about what the employer must approve.

Ask Why the Request Was Denied

Request an explanation tied to the actual job. Was the employer missing documentation? Did it believe the change would remove an essential duty? Was there a cost or staffing concern? Did it offer a different accommodation?

Those answers help distinguish an incomplete discussion from a final refusal. A request for appropriate clarification is not necessarily unlawful. Neither is an offer of an effective alternative. But repeated delays, contradictory instructions, or a refusal to consider any option may indicate a problem.

Take Part in the Interactive Process

The interactive process is a discussion aimed at identifying a workable accommodation. Both sides should participate in good faith. Respond to reasonable requests, attend scheduled discussions when possible, and explain why a proposed adjustment would or would not address your limitation.

• Identify the tasks affected by the restriction.
• Describe the adjustment you believe would help.
• Provide appropriate supporting information when needed.
• Ask about alternatives if the first proposal is rejected.
• Confirm the agreed arrangement and any review date in writing.

Keep the focus on function. “I need help” may be too vague for a manager to understand the barrier. “I cannot lift more than this amount during recovery” gives the employer something concrete to assess.

Must the Employer Approve Your Preferred Option?

Not always. An effective alternative may satisfy the accommodation obligation even if you would prefer something else. The alternative must actually address the relevant need. A different chair will not resolve a scheduling conflict caused by recurring medical treatment.

Suppose you request remote work because of a limitation affecting your commute and workplace access. The job duties, the limitation, and possible alternatives all need assessment. Remote work is neither automatically required nor automatically unreasonable. Explain why the proposed solution works rather than treating the label as the answer.

What Does Undue Hardship Mean?

Undue hardship involves significant difficulty or expense assessed in context. Relevant considerations can include the proposed accommodation, the employer’s resources, and its operational impact. A supervisor’s preference for uniform rules is not the same as showing undue hardship.

At the same time, employees should take genuine operational concerns seriously. If the requested schedule leaves an essential shift uncovered, another arrangement may be worth discussing. Document the options considered and why each was rejected. The details are more useful than a general disagreement about fairness.

What If You Need Leave or Reassignment?

Medical leave can sometimes be an accommodation even when another leave program is unavailable or exhausted. An expected duration and information about a possible return to work can be important. The employer need not automatically approve indefinite leave.

Reassignment to an appropriate vacant position may also need consideration when accommodation in the current role is not workable. This does not generally require creating a vacancy or promoting an employee. If you know of an opening you could perform, identify it and ask that it be discussed.

Document the Process and Watch for Retaliation

Keep your request, supporting documents, the employer’s responses, and meeting notes you made at the time. Record dates, who participated, proposed solutions, and any change in your duties or schedule. Preserve only material you are legally entitled to possess.

Requesting disability accommodation can be protected activity. If discipline or termination follows, timing may matter, but it does not establish retaliation alone. Compare the employer’s explanation with earlier records. Our article on when to speak with an employment attorney explains why you can seek advice while still employed.

When Should You Seek Help?

Consider legal guidance if the employer refuses all discussion, threatens your job, repeatedly postpones a decision, or ends employment without considering available options. Do not assume an internal grievance pauses outside filing deadlines. Agency requirements and court deadlines depend on the claim.

Lawyers for Employee and Consumer Rights reviews California workplace discrimination and accommodation matters. If your request was denied or ignored, fill out our contact form, call the number above to speak to a legal assistant now, or start chatting if you think you might have a case.

Sources: CRD reasonable accommodation guidance; EEOC accommodation guidance. General information, not advice about a specific case.