If you have a disability of any kind, knowing your rights to “reasonable accommodation” under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) can be crucial to being able to do your job. Most people know that employers are typically required to provide reasonable accommodation as long as doing so doesn’t create an “undue hardship.”
Where employees (and employers) are often less informed is how much information an employee must disclose about their disability – regardless of whether they ask for reasonable accommodation or not. Your privacy can be invaded from the time you interview for a position and throughout your employment if you don’t know where you can draw the line.
How much are you required to disclose to your employer?
You’re typically required to disclose very little. In fact, you don’t have to disclose a disability at all on a job application or during an interview unless you need a reasonable accommodation. Even then, you have no obligation to provide information about your physical or mental health.
Employers are entitled to ask questions about what kind of accommodation you need. For example, do they need to provide a desk that can accommodate a wheelchair, computer software that provides captioning, a special telephone or regular breaks? They can ask about the logistics of those.
They don’t have a right to ask what your disability is or any questions about it. (Were you born with it? How long have you had it? Will it get better?) The list goes on. Of course, you may be happy to answer any and all questions, but many people don’t feel comfortable doing that. That’s why it’s crucial to know that you don’t have to.
Further, if you choose to share information about your disability with your boss, that doesn’t mean they have the right to share it with everyone else. It’s best to make that clear, however.
What kind of medical documentation can an employer require?
If a disability isn’t readily apparent (or even if it is), an employer can ask for documentation from your doctor. However, that documentation only needs to state what accommodation you need. It doesn’t need to provide any medical or diagnostic information. Further, if an employer does ask for medical information, it can be no different than the information they require from all applicants or employees.
If you believe you’ve been discriminated against because of your disability, it can be wise to get legal guidance to determine whether you have grounds for a legal claim.