As a matter of law and public policy, employers must avoid and eliminate barriers to employment for qualified people with disabilities. In the context of leave, this means that some requests should be considered as possible requests for reasonable accommodation, even if the employee does not specifically use those words. In fact, leave may be the most frequently requested accommodation.

How do you know when a request for leave is a request for accommodation? If the information the employee provides suggests that a leave request is related to a long-term, chronic, or permanent disability, you may ask whether the request is one for reasonable accommodation. In some cases, an employee may be entitled to both reasonable accommodation and FMLA leave, and you may ask whether either or both are being invoked. You are not required to guess, and you do not have a duty to accommodate a condition the employee has never disclosed. In fact, it is not appropriate to ask employees if they are disabled, or treat them as disabled, when they have not disclosed a medical condition, even though you may suspect that one exists. An employee who qualifies for both reasonable accommodation and FMLA receives the greater benefit any time there are differences.

Not every medical condition entitles an employee to accommodation under the law. Temporary conditions, such as a broken arm, are not covered, for instance. Also, an employee may not be entitled to accommodation for "stress" or for some other condition that does not constitute a recognized medical diagnosis. Your advisors will help you determine whether the condition presented by the employee is covered, and will also help you make a request for medical documentation if that is necessary to make a decision. 

Additionally, even if the condition meets the law’s criteria, the law only covers a qualified person with a disability. This means an employee who can perform all the essential duties of his or her own position, or a funded vacant position at the same level, with or without accommodations. If the employee cannot perform in the current position or one at the same level, the agency must see if there is a lower graded job he or she can perform. There is extensive information on reasonable accommodation on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s internet web site at http://www.eeoc.gov/docs/accommodation.html.