A disability is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual, such as caring for one’s self, eating, sleeping, walking, concentrating, learning, communicating, or interacting with others.

A reasonable accommodation is a change to the work environment, or to how the worker does the job, that enables a qualified individual with a disability to perform the essential functions of the job, and to enjoy equal benefits and privileges of employment. 

Many supervisors do not understand that, under the law, mental health disabilities are disabilities that require the supervisor to enter into the interactive process.

Accommodations may include changes to the building to make it more accessible, changes to the worker’s workstation, service animals, providing a sign language interpreter, providing an ergonomic chair or a larger screen, or allowing the worker to telework, as long as the worker can continue to perform the essential functions of the job while teleworking.

A request to work from home because of another person’s medical condition or disability does not entitle the worker to a reasonable accommodation. It may entitle the worker to up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year under the Family and Medical Leave Act, however. 

An accommodation that makes it easier or more convenient to do your job is not a legally required accommodation. A reasonable accommodation must make the difference between your ability and inability to perform the essential functions of your job, at least part of the time.

Telework under the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010 is not a reasonable accommodation, either. It is a discretionary authority that agencies may withdraw, as the President did in 2025. However, many employees with disabilities were teleworking effectively during the pandemic or before 2025. Many of them did not see a need to document their disabilities or request reasonable accommodations, and preferred not to request reasonable accommodations to protect their privacy. These workers may qualify for a reasonable accommodation if they are qualified individuals with disabilities.

The essential functions of your job are your fundamental job duties–duties you perform regularly, or duties that you may only perform infrequently but are the reason why your job exists. Marginal functions that you perform infrequently, or that your co-workers are able to cover without causing an undue hardship, don’t qualify as essential functions just because they’re listed in your position description. 

If can’t perform the essential functions of your job because of the symptoms of your disability, talk to your medical provider about your symptoms and how they affect you right away. If you wait, your supervisor may give you unfavorable performance ratings without understanding how your disability is affecting you. Your agency may also question how necessary the accommodation really is if you delayed your accommodation request. 

Your doctor may suggest different accommodation strategies to help you perform the essential functions of your job. 

Not necessarily. If your disability is obvious (you use a wheelchair or a service animal) your supervisor shouldn’t need to see medical documentation; she should simply provide you the accommodation you need to do your job. More supervisors are demanding medical documentation today, particularly for mental health disabilities, or disabilities where telework is the requested accommodation. If you think you may need medical documentation, ask your doctor to write a letter documenting your symptoms and possible accommodation strategies, or recommending specific accommodations that she believes to be necessary. In practice, some doctors may take weeks to provide these letters. The letter should not go into detail about your diagnosis or treatment. That information is confidential. Your supervisor only needs to know that you have a disability, how it affects your ability to do your job, and what accommodations would make you able to perform those essential functions again.

The law has not changed; only the amount of misinformation, delay, and unnecessary suffering has. 

Even in 2024, many supervisors did not understand their legal obligations to provide reasonable accommodations. They didn’t understand that mental health disabilities are still disabilities. They didn’t understand their duty to keep medical information confidential. They denied accommodations out of a fear that other employees would suspect them of favoritism. They assumed that employees were faking their disabilities just to keep teleworking.

The actions and guidance of DOGE, OPM, and the EEOC have added to the confusion, misinformation, and outright fear by managers that they’d be punished for following the law and accommodating their employees. For example, recent OPM guidance is misleading about anxiety as a disability. It incorrectly states that a long commute is not a basis for a reasonable accommodation. In fact, an employee who requires constant access to a bathroom because of bowel control problems may not be able to endure a long commute and may be eligible for a reasonable accommodation. That confusion means more employees will have to file EEO complaints and get help from lawyers just to do their jobs.

First, understand that in 2026, many supervisors are afraid of following the law–especially when the requested accommodation is telework, or when the employee’s disability is anxiety, PTSD, or another mental health disability. Never take a denial personally, and never threaten your supervisor with EEO complaints or lawsuits. That almost never helps the situation. Instead, maintain a professional demeanor and understand that your supervisor may feel powerless to do what’s right. Instead, report the denial to your agency’s EEO office. Do this as soon as possible, but always within 45 days. You may also consider talking to a lawyer to ensure that you’re framing and documenting your request effectively. It is unlawful for your supervisor or agency to retaliate against you for reporting to your EEO office. If you believe that you’ve been retaliated against, document why you think so show that documentation to a lawyer.

Many agencies DOGEd their EEO offices in 2025 and couldn’t deal with the surge of reasonable accommodation requests that followed the return-to-office order. This left most federal agencies backlogged by months in considering reasonable accommodation requests. Many federal workers have suffered needlessly for months while waiting for decisions (they should not wait; they should talk to a lawyer). In other cases, agencies have reassigned their reasonable accommodation processes to HR staff who aren’t trained in reasonable accommodation law. According to EEOC Management Directive 110, HR staff aren’t supposed to interfere with the EEO complaint process. When they interfere in ways that discriminate against workers with disabilities, a lawyer can protect your rights, represent you in EEO counseling and mediation, correct the agency’s legal misunderstandings, and get you the accommodation the law entitles you to.

Unfortunately, this is common in many federal agencies today, and it’s often unlawful. Your agency should not make you wait for weeks, much less months, if a disability prevents you from doing your job. It should not require you to take sick leave, annual leave, or leave without pay if you’re ready, willing, and able to do your job from home. If your agency does any of these things before it makes a decision on your accommodation request, that’s a red flag.

If the agency knows that your disability is preventing you from performing the essential functions of your job, it should grant you an interim accommodation until it can grant you an effective accommodation. An effective interim accommodation is good news for the employee. It’s an opportunity document that you can do the job well with the accommodation, without causing the agency an undue hardship. That means you’re more likely to win your case if the “permanent” accommodation is denied.  On the other hand, an ineffective accommodation is an opportunity to document the specific incidents in which the ineffective accommodation has hurt the employee’s job performance, adversely affected the employee’s health, or caused the employee significant pain, anxiety, or embarrassment.  

The reasonable accommodation process is supposed to be an ongoing interactive process. An employee’s health can change, and so can job functions. Agencies may schedule reasonable accommodations for periodic reassessments.  

It’s almost always best for the client to resolve her case without litigation. Litigation takes time and costs money. It may end with a large recovery from an agency that has broken the law, but only be after years of stress, delay, and expense. I charge a flat rate to try to resolve reasonable accommodation cases without litigation. That fee includes the time I need to review your documentation, meet with you, keep you updated on the progress of your case, represent you in EEO counseling and mediation, file a formal EEO complaint, and negotiate a settlement that you’re willing to accept. 

Of course, no lawyer can guarantee an outcome. If the agency refuses to offer you an accommodation that you’re willing to accept, I’ll also provide you a brief, plain-English summary of your next steps, litigation risks, and the fee structure I’ll charge you if you choose to litigate. You will find other lawyers in the area with lower rates, but I prefer to give better quality representation to a few clients with the most deserving cases.