I am requesting a private room for a sales meeting due to a chronic medical condition. My doctor has sent a letter to this effect. Now my employer’s occupational health team is asking to know what the exact condition is. Do I legally have to disclose this information?
Rita Risser replies:
The federal law that requires an accommodation is the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). Not all chronic medical conditions arise to the level of disabilities, so the first issue that the employer would need to resolve is whether you are disabled. According to the EEOC, a person may be disabled if he or she has a physical or mental condition that substantially limits a major life activity (such as walking, talking, seeing, hearing, or learning).
When the disability and/or the need for accommodation is not obvious, the employer may ask the individual for reasonable documentation about his/her disability and functional limitations. The employer is entitled to know that the individual has a covered disability for which s/he needs a reasonable accommodation.
The employer may require documentation to establish that the disability necessitates a reasonable accommodation. In requesting documentation, employers should specify what types of information they are seeking regarding the disability, its functional limitations, and the need for reasonable accommodation.
The EEOC gives this example: “A marketing employee has a severe learning disability. He attends numerous meetings to plan marketing strategies. In order to remember what is discussed at these meetings he must take detailed notes but, due to his disability, he has great difficulty writing. The employee tells his supervisor about his disability and requests a laptop computer to use in the meetings. Since neither the disability nor the need for accommodation are obvious, the supervisor may ask the employee for reasonable documentation about his impairment; the nature, severity, and duration of the impairment; the activity or activities that the impairment limits; and the extent to which the impairment limits the employee’s ability to perform the activity or activities. The employer also may ask why the disability necessitates use of a laptop computer (or any other type of reasonable accommodation, such as a tape recorder) to help the employee retain the information from the meetings.”
Based on this information from the EEOC, and given that in your situation, neither the disability nor the need for accommodation are obvious, it appears that the employer does have the right to request additional information.
Posted 01-12-2016
Information here is correct at the time it is posted. Case decisions cited here may be reversed. Please do not rely on this information without consulting an attorney first.
