Dive Insight:

The ADA requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for workers with disabilities and prohibits discrimination based on disability.

While the law doesn’t explicitly mandate an “interactive process” for reaching an accommodation decision, it tends to favor such efforts. According to the Job Accommodation Network, a U.S. Department of Labor service, this process can include recognizing an accommodation request, gathering information, exploring options together, implementing an accommodation and monitoring the accommodation.

Additionally, enforcement authorities and courts tend to disfavor any party that causes a breakdown in the interactive process. In other words, if an employee abandons the process, an employer could be found to have met its ADA responsibilities; if an employer abandons the...