In EEOC v. Ford Motor Company, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals held that telecommuting up to four days a week was not a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Under the ADA, employers must make reasonable accommodations to a qualifying employee with a disability if the employee is able to perform the essential functions of the job with the reasonable accommodation in place.
In this case, the employee held a position at Ford that required her to have a significant amount of personal interactions with others. The employee had a disability that caused her to miss work. Ford allowed her to work an alternative schedule and agreed to try telecommuting on a trial basis. The employee was not able to meet Ford’s performance standards with the accommodations provided. She then asked to telecommute up to four days per week. Her request was denied.
The court sided with the employer and found that the employee’s position was not appropriate for telecommuting. At least eight of her ten job responsibilities could not be performed from home. Ford had always limited the ability of other employees in her position to telecommute.
Ford’s decision to deny the telecommuting request did not violate the ADA’s reasonable accommodation requirements because the employee was not able to perform the essential functions of the job with the requested accommodation in place. Regular and predictable on-site job attendance was an essential function of the job.
This decision is very favorable for employers, assuming an employer can prove that regularly attending work on-site is an essential job function.
