What is particularly useful about this Handbook are the “practice tips”, the “what we have learned” facts, and the “examples” provided that give clarity and definition to the law. For example: one of the key points in the law available only to Small Employers is the “Undue Hardship” clause. As a Human Resources Consultant, many of the legal cases I was called in to “unwind” came from Small Employers who inappropriately used this clause to deny a person with disabilities a reasonable accommodation. Or, they used it correctly yet forgot the important step of communicating options and reasons to the employee, and including the employee in the process.

Copied below is the section from the Handbook covering “Undue Hardship”.

“What is undue hardship?

Undue hardship means that providing the reasonable accommodation would result in significant difficulty or expense, based on your resources and the operation of your business. (Bold here not part of the original quotation; added for emphasis only.)

Practice tip: If providing a particular accommodation would result in undue hardship, consider whether another accommodation exists that would not.

What we've learned - most accommodations are not expensive:

• One-fifth cost nothing.

• More than half of them only cost between $1 and $500.

• The median cost is approximately $240.

• Technological advances continue to reduce the cost of many accommodations.

• Some employees provide their own accommodations in the form of assistive devices or equipment.

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