Reasonable Accommodations: What Employers Must Provide

In California, an employer with five or more employees generally must provide a reasonable accommodation for a known physical or mental disability unless it can prove undue hardship. It must also talk with you in good faith to find a change that works, and it can’t punish you for asking. Pregnant workers, nursing parents and employees with religious practices have their own accommodation rights. Your employer doesn’t have to give you everything you ask for, but it does have to give you something effective if one exists.

What employers must provide

California’s accommodation duty is an active one. Under Gov. Code §12940(m) and (n) and the Civil Rights Department’s disability rules (2 CCR §§11068–11069), a covered employer generally must:

• Respond and engage. Start a “timely, good faith, interactive process” when you ask, when it learns of your need from someone else or by observing you, or when you have used up workers’ compensation, CFRA, FMLA or other leave and still need help to return.
• Consider your ideas. Give real consideration to the accommodation you request and explain any alternatives it offers instead.
• Provide an effective accommodation. It may pick the option it prefers, but the option has to actually work for your limitation.
• Look beyond your current job. If no change lets you do your own job, the employer should consider reassigning you to a vacant position you’re qualified for.
• Keep working with you. If the first accommodation doesn’t work, the process continues.
• Not retaliate. Punishing you for requesting an accommodation can violate §12940(m)(2), whether or not the request was granted.

Common accommodations

A reasonable accommodation is any change to the job, the workplace or the usual way of doing things that lets a qualified employee perform the essential functions of the job. California’s definition (Gov. Code §12926(p)) and the regulations include:

• Modified, part-time or shifted schedules, and time off for medical appointments
• Equipment or software, such as an ergonomic workstation, a sit-stand desk or screen-reading tools
• Job restructuring, such as moving marginal tasks to coworkers
• Accessible facilities and changes to policies, such as extra breaks or a different workspace
• Paid or unpaid leave for treatment or recovery, when it is likely to help you return
• Reassignment to a vacant position
• Working from home, in some jobs, if the essential functions can be done remotely

Here is a hypothetical. Daniel works as a warehouse picker at a company with 200 employees. After back surgery, his doctor limits him to lifting 25 pounds for three months. His employer can’t simply send him home. It should talk with Daniel about options such as lift assists, a temporary job swap with lighter loads, or a vacant role in inventory control he is qualified for. If none of those works, a period of leave may be the accommodation.

Accommodation rights by reason

For more detail, see our guides to pregnancy disability leave, lactation accommodation and religious accommodation.

What employers don’t have to provide

The duty has limits. Under 2 CCR §11068, an employer generally is not required to:

• eliminate an essential function of the job or lower its quality or quantity standards;
• create a brand-new position for you;
• provide leave with no end in sight (indefinite leave);
• give you your first choice, if a different accommodation would be effective;
• provide an accommodation that would cause undue hardship.

Undue hardship means “significant difficulty or expense” considering the cost, the employer’s size and overall resources, and the type of operation (Gov. Code §12926(u)). The employer has to prove it, after engaging in the interactive process. A large company may have difficulty showing that a schedule change or a few hundred dollars of equipment is an undue hardship.

Medical documentation and privacy

Your employer may ask for reasonable medical documentation that confirms you have a condition that limits a major life activity and explains why you need an accommodation. Under 2 CCR §11069, you generally don’t have to reveal your diagnosis or hand over your full medical file. California law also generally bars employers from making medical inquiries of current employees unless the inquiry is job-related and consistent with business necessity (Gov. Code §12940(f)).

If the documentation you provide is insufficient, the employer should tell you what is missing rather than simply denying the request.

How to request an accommodation

1. Tell your supervisor or HR. Say you have a medical condition (or pregnancy, or a religious practice) and describe the change that would help. Plain language is enough.
2. Put it in writing. A short email creates a dated record of when your employer learned about your need.
3. Get a provider’s note that describes your restrictions and how long they are expected to last.
4. Take part in the process. Answer questions, attend meetings and respond to alternatives. Silence on your side can hurt your claim.
5. Keep copies of every request, response and change in how you’re treated.

Our step-by-step guide explains how to request a reasonable accommodation, including what a good-faith interactive process looks like.

Signs your employer isn’t meeting its duty

• Your request goes unanswered for weeks, or HR keeps postponing a meeting.
• You’re told “we don’t do light duty” or “come back when you’re 100%” without any discussion of options.
• You’re placed on unpaid leave even though a simple change would let you keep working.
• Your hours are cut, you’re written up or you’re let go soon after asking.
• Your restrictions are ignored and you’re assigned work your doctor said you can’t do.

Each of these can be evidence that your employer isn’t meeting its duty. Our failure to accommodate page explains how these claims work.

Remedies and deadlines

If your employer failed to accommodate you, the CRD lists remedies that can include back pay, front pay, reinstatement, the accommodation itself, emotional distress damages, punitive damages in egregious cases, and attorney’s fees and costs.

You must get a right-to-sue notice from the Civil Rights Department before filing a FEHA lawsuit. See how to file a CRD complaint and get a right-to-sue notice.

Frequently asked questions

Does my employer have to give me the exact accommodation I asked for?

No. It must consider your preference, but it can choose a different accommodation as long as it is effective for your limitation.

Can my employer make me take unpaid leave instead?

Not if another reasonable accommodation would let you keep working. Under 2 CCR §11068(c), an employer can’t require leave when a different accommodation would be effective.

Is a temporary condition covered?

It can be. FEHA asks whether a condition limits a major life activity, and many conditions that aren’t permanent can qualify. Very minor short-term illnesses, such as a common cold, generally don’t.

Does my employer have to create a light-duty job for me?

Generally no, it doesn’t have to create a new position. But it should consider modifying your current job and reassigning you to a vacant job you’re qualified for.

My employer has only 8 employees. Do these rules apply?

Yes, FEHA’s disability accommodation duty applies to employers that regularly employ five or more people. The federal ADA applies only at 15 or more.

Talk to a California employment lawyer

Employees First Labor Law represents workers exclusively, including employees whose accommodation requests were ignored, denied or met with retaliation. We offer free virtual consultations to review what happened and your options. Contact us online or call (310) 853-3461.

This article is general information about California law as of 2026, not legal advice for your situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.