Section 2500.40  Reasonable Accommodation

a)         Requirement – Employers and labor organizations must make reasonable accommodation of the known physical or mental limitations of otherwise qualified disabled applicants or employees, unless the employer or labor organization can demonstrate that accommodation would be prohibitively expensive or would unduly disrupt the ordinary conduct of business. Whether an accommodation would be prohibitively expensive or disruptive will involve weighing its cost and inconvenience against the immediate and potential benefits of providing it, when the immediate benefit is facilitation of the disabled person's employment and the potential benefits include facilitating access by other disabled employees, applicants, clients and customers.  Accommodation may include: alteration of the facility or work site; modification of work schedules or leave policy; acquisition of equipment; job restructuring; provision of readers or interpreters; and other similar actions.

b)         Exceptions – Accommodations of a personal nature (e.g., eyeglasses or hearing aids) need not be provided, nor is it necessary to provide any superfluous accommodation (e.g., provision of a chauffeur to accommodate a blind person's traveling difficulties).  No employer is required to hire two full time employees to perform one job in order to accommodate a disabled individual.

c)         Employee's Burden – It is the duty of the individual seeking an accommodation to apprise the employer or labor organization involved of the employee's disabling condition and submit any necessary medical documentation.  The individual must ordinarily initiate the request for accommodation and must cooperate in any ensuing discussion and evaluation aimed at determining the possible or feasible accommodations.

d)         Employer's or Labor Organization's Burden – Once a disabled individual has initiated a request for accommodation, or if a potential accommodation is obvious in the circumstances, it is the duty of the employer or labor organization involved to provide the necessary accommodation in conformance with subsection (a).  In response to a discrimination charge involving a refusal to provide an accommodation, an employer or labor organization must show that the disabled individual would be unqualified even with accommodation, that the accommodation would be prohibitively expensive or would unduly disrupt the conduct of business, or that the accommodation would constitute an exception as described in subsection (b).

(Source:  Amended at 33 Ill. Reg. 3506, effective February 5, 2009)