Reasonable Accommodation: How to Ask and What to Ask For

Reasonable Accommodation: How to Ask and What to Ask For

Updated September 2026

If a medical condition is making your job harder, your employer may be legally required to change something — but almost never until you ask. The Americans with Disabilities Act puts the first move on you, and most people who are entitled to help never make it, because they assume there’s a formal process they don’t know.

There isn’t. You don’t need a lawyer, a form, or the words “reasonable accommodation.” You need one sentence connecting a medical condition to a change at work. This article covers what you can ask for, exactly how to word the request, and what your employer has to do once you’ve made it.

What a Reasonable Accommodation Actually Is

A reasonable accommodation is a change to how, when, or where you do your job that lets you keep doing it despite a disability. It is not an exemption from the job — it’s an adjustment that lets you perform it.

Three things have to be true:

Your employer is covered. The ADA applies to private employers with 15 or more employees, and to state and local government. Many states extend coverage to smaller employers, so check yours before assuming you’re out.

You have a disability as the ADA defines it. That’s broader than most people expect: a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity. Diabetes, anxiety, depression, PTSD, ADHD, chronic pain, cancer, epilepsy, migraine and autoimmune conditions all commonly qualify. So does a condition in remission. See what counts as a disability under the ADA.

You’re qualified for the job. You can perform its essential functions, with or without the accommodation. Essential functions are the core duties the job exists to do — not every task listed in the description.

What You Can Ask For

People under-ask, usually because they can’t picture what’s available. These are all routine:

A work injury puts you in two systems at once. Can you be fired while on workers’ comp covers how the ADA fills the gap when comp and FMLA both run out.

On cost, which is what most people worry about: the Job Accommodation Network has surveyed employers for years and consistently finds that roughly half of accommodations cost nothing at all, and the typical one-time cost of the rest is a few hundred dollars. If your employer pushes back on expense, that finding is worth knowing.

How to Ask for a Reasonable Accommodation

1. No magic words are required. You don’t have to say “ADA,” “reasonable accommodation,” or “disability.” You have to put your employer on notice that you need a change at work for a medical reason. That’s the entire legal trigger.

2. Put it in writing anyway. A verbal request is legally valid. A written one is provable. Email is fine, and email is better than a form, because you keep a copy.

3. Say what you need, not what’s wrong with you. You do not have to disclose your diagnosis to start. Describe the limitation and the change that would address it.

4. Send it to someone who can act. Your manager, HR, or whoever your handbook names. If your manager is the problem, go to HR.

5. Suggest something specific, but stay open. A concrete proposal moves faster than “I need help.” You may not get exactly what you asked for, and that’s allowed.

6. Keep every piece of paper. The request, the reply, the dates, who said what. If this goes wrong later, the contemporaneous record is the case.

A Sample Request You Can Copy

Adapt the bracketed parts. Keep it this short — a long letter invites argument.

Subject: Request for a workplace accommodation

Hi [Name],

I’m writing to request an accommodation for a medical condition.

[Briefly: the limitation, not the diagnosis. For example: “I have a medical condition that makes it difficult for me to sit for extended periods” or “a health condition that affects my concentration in open workspaces.”]

I’d like to request [the specific change — for example: “a sit-stand desk,” “a start time of 9:30 instead of 8:00,” “the ability to work from home two days a week”]. I believe this would allow me to continue performing all the essential functions of my role.

I’m happy to discuss this, and if you need documentation from my healthcare provider, please let me know what’s required and I’ll arrange it.

Thank you,
[Your name]

Three things that letter does deliberately. It names a medical reason without naming a condition. It proposes something concrete. And it offers documentation rather than waiting to be asked — which signals good faith and speeds the whole thing up.

What Happens Next: The Interactive Process

Once you’ve asked, your employer is expected to engage in what the EEOC calls the interactive process — an informal back-and-forth to work out what will actually work. It isn’t a formal hearing. It’s usually a conversation and some emails.

What your employer is supposed to do: respond in a reasonable time, discuss options, and either provide an effective accommodation or explain why it can’t.

Silence is itself a problem. An employer that ignores a request, or lets it drift for months, may be failing the interactive process — and that failure can be its own violation, separately from whether the accommodation was owed. If two weeks pass with no response, follow up in writing and reference your original date.

You may not get your first choice. Your employer has to provide something effective, not something optimal. If a cheaper option genuinely solves the problem, they can choose it. If it doesn’t solve the problem, say so, in writing, and explain why.

What Your Employer Can and Can’t Ask For

They can ask for medical documentation — but only when the disability or the need for accommodation isn’t obvious, and only for what’s reasonably necessary to establish both. A note confirming you have a condition that limits you and describing the functional restriction is usually enough.

They cannot demand your complete medical history, your full records, or unrelated conditions. See what your employer can ask about your medical history and when your employer can ask for a doctor’s note.

They must keep it confidential. Medical information has to be kept separate from your regular personnel file and shared only with people who need to know — typically a supervisor implementing a restriction. Your colleagues are not entitled to know why your schedule changed. See what’s in your personnel file.

They generally cannot contact your doctor directly without your authorization, though rules vary. See can your employer call your doctor.

When Your Employer Can Say No

The legal standard is undue hardship — significant difficulty or expense, judged against the employer’s size, resources and operations. A national retailer and a fifteen-person firm are held to different practical standards.

In practice, denials are rarely about money. They’re usually one of these:

• The accommodation would eliminate an essential function, not just adjust it
• It would require creating a new position
• It would require removing another employee from their job
• It would mean bumping a more senior employee under a seniority system
• The documentation doesn’t establish a limitation

Two things an employer generally cannot do: force you onto leave when a workable accommodation exists, or refuse to discuss alternatives after rejecting your first proposal. For more, see when an employer can refuse accommodations.

If Your Request Is Ignored or Denied

Ask for the reason in writing. “Can you confirm in writing why the request was denied and what alternatives were considered?” A vague verbal no often becomes a different answer when someone has to put it in an email.

Propose an alternative. The obligation is to find something effective, not to approve your first idea. Coming back with a second option keeps the process alive and demonstrates your good faith.

Watch for retaliation. Requesting an accommodation is protected activity. If your hours, reviews or assignments get worse afterward, that’s a separate claim and often a stronger one. See is this workplace retaliation and can you be fired for a medical condition.

Know your deadline. An EEOC charge generally must be filed within 180 days of the discriminatory act, extended to 300 days in states with their own fair employment agency. That’s short, and it runs from the denial, not from when you gave up hoping. You can file with the EEOC without a lawyer and at no cost.

Consider whether FMLA also applies. Leave can be both an ADA accommodation and FMLA leave, and the two have different rules and different lengths. See how long FMLA lasts and short-term disability vs FMLA.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line

The ADA doesn’t give your employer a duty to notice you’re struggling. It gives them a duty to respond when you tell them — and most people never do, because they’re waiting for a process that doesn’t exist.

One email. A medical reason, a specific request, an offer to provide documentation. That’s the whole trigger, and it starts a legal obligation that didn’t exist the day before.

If you’ve been quietly working around a condition for months, the useful question isn’t whether you’d qualify. It’s what you’d ask for if you knew you could.

Disclaimer

This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. Disability law varies by state and turns heavily on individual facts, and reading this article does not create an attorney-client relationship. Consult a licensed attorney in your state about your specific situation.

Related Articles

• What Counts as a Disability Under the ADA?
• Can an Employer Refuse Accommodations?
• Can Your Employer Ask About Your Medical History?
• Can You Be Fired for a Medical Condition?
• Is ADHD a Disability?
• Is This Workplace Retaliation?