Dear Ellie,

I’m looking for some guidance on a challenge I run into when coaching managers on reasonable accommodations.

Many managers struggle to understand why accommodations are necessary—especially in cases involving work-from-home requests. From an HR perspective, we follow the interactive process thoroughly, and in most cases, we confirm the disability is legitimate and that the essential functions can be performed remotely. Based on that, we approve the accommodation.

The pushback usually comes from managers who feel we should “set expectations during the interview process” so candidates don’t “just get a doctor’s note to avoid commuting.” I’ve explained ADA requirements and our legal obligations multiple times, but it continues to be an uphill battle.

Do you have advice on helping managers better grasp the why behind accommodations, so they see it as more than just a compliance box to check?

Signed,

ADA Champion

You’re standing at one of the most difficult intersections in our profession: where a top-down corporate worldview crashes directly into the very real, legally protected needs of our employees. It can feel like a legal and human minefield, and often, it feels like we’re the lonely traffic cop left to manage the chaos. This work is complex, messy, and deeply important. And part of that work is getting our leadership aligned with policies that are both good for people and good for business, so we’ve got some partners in all this traffic.

Let’s walk through the laws, the landscape, and the playbook for how we can lead with both compassion and compliance through accommodation requests and manager friction.

I don’t need to tell you, ADA Champion, but this is where we as HR professionals must hold the line with clarity and confidence. Our employees’ right to a reasonable accommodation is protected by foundational civil rights legislation, primarily the Americans with Disabilities Act of 2008 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Under these laws, we have a legal obligation to provide a reasonable accommodation for a known disability, unless doing so would cause an “undue hardship” to the employee’s company—a very high bar to meet.

Remote work has long been established as a potential reasonable accommodation. Our job is to make sure our leaders remember that the law doesn’t care about their personal feelings on work-from-home policies. We must shift the conversation internally from remote work as a “perk” to telework as a legally protected accommodation for those who qualify.

The pressure you’re feeling internally is happening everywhere right now. There has been a significant, top-down push for “return to office,” particularly in the federal space. We saw a stark example of this play out recently at the CDC, when its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, tried to remove long-term telework as a reasonable accommodation. The outcry from employees and unions was so fierce that the CDC had to hit the pause button.

This situation is a critical case study for us. It highlights the clash between a new administrative priority and the long-standing legal rights of disabled employees. And let’s be real: for leaders who already have a bias against remote work, these headlines can feel like permission to lean into those views more aggressively.

So, here’s the deal: If you’re consistently hearing complaints from managers about these accommodations, you’re not facing a dozen individual problems. You’re facing two problems: a culture one and a trust one. Without a culture built on trust and inclusion, accommodation requests are often misinterpreted as “shortcuts” or “unfair advantages.”

What I’m also hearing is that your managers may not trust HR’s process, and they likely have a strong proximity bias (the “If I can’t see them, they aren’t working” mentality). That points to even deeper gaps in leadership training.

So how do we fix this? The good news is, you’re not powerless. You’re in HR. You’re the architect, so let’s get building.

Step 1: Covering the Basics

• Clarify and communicate the process: Your first job is to create a crystal-clear, consistent, and legally compliant process for handling accommodation requests. Document it and communicate it to all managers. This eliminates ad-hoc decisions and is your best defense against bias.
• Train your managers (on the non-negotiables): Managers are your first line of defense and greatest potential liability. They need mandatory training on the basics of the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act. They must know how to recognize a request (no “magic words” required) and, most important, that their next step is to bring you into the conversation immediately.

Step 2: Shift the Culture

• Establish ongoing culture training: Don’t make it a one-and-done. Establish annual training on unconscious bias, allyship, and psychological safety. Frame legally protected benefits (like FMLA and accommodations) as tools that positively impact retention, performance, and engagement. Use your own company’s engagement data to prove it.
• Introduce a leadership standard: Weave empathy-driven leadership styles into your company’s DNA. Introduce concepts like Radical Candor or the principles of Psychological Safety, Civility, and Trust into manager onboarding, training, and performance reviews.
• Champion employee resource groups (ERGs): If you don’t have an ERG for people with disabilities, now is the time to champion one. Partner with these employees to celebrate their identities, understand their real-world concerns, and get their feedback on your processes.

Step 3: Make it a Leadership Imperative

• Obtain executive support: The most vital piece of the puzzle is getting your executive team to endorse and model these behaviors. If these values aren’t the norm, they need to be instilled until they are. This makes it a company standard, not just another HR mandate.

You’ve got this, ADA Champion! One of the great things about doing the messy and complex human work that we do is that we get to see the fruits of our labor at both the people level and the business level. And when we bridge the two, we can gain more partners on this mission, so the job of protecting employees’ rights isn’t just an HR one—it’s a company norm and value.

I’m taking my compliance hat off for a minute, ADA Champion, to share the best piece of advice I ever received from a DEI consultant 20 years my senior. I was at a company that wouldn’t even let me write the words “Black History Month” in a newsletter. During my hour-long consultation with her, I asked her how I could get them to take baby steps toward celebrating people from all backgrounds.

In so many words, she told me it was time to get out. She helped me see that I could do my best work in a place that was already playing at my level, and that one person alone can’t lift an entire company.

So yes, try the new tricks. Push for the change. But also give yourself permission to assess if you’re trying to plant seeds in concrete. Sometimes the most strategic move is finding more fertile ground for your talents.

Stay Resilient,

Ellie

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