Granting a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does not render that accommodation sacrosanct. A case recently decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit illustrates two critical reasonable accommodation principles: (1) reasonable accommodations can change as circumstances evolve; and (2) the employer is only required to provide an accommodation that is effective, not necessarily the one preferred by the employee.

Quick Hits

• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has ruled that reasonable accommodations under the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act may be subject to modification where circumstances change.
• An employer does not need to provide the employee’s choice of accommodation, as long as it offers one that effectively enables the employee to perform the essential job functions.
• It is important for both employers and employees to engage in an interactive process to determine reasonable accommodations.

In Bourke v. Collins, a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital employee with mobility issues used a scooter at work and originally had a reserved parking spot near a locked storage room for his scooter. When COVID-19–related restrictions caused the VA hospital to change which entrances employees could use, he asked for a new reserved spot near the emergency room entrance. The hospital denied this, citing a lack of secure storage nearby, the need to keep handicapped spaces available for patients,...

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