When an employee sends in a note from their doctor with restrictions, the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and many state discrimination laws requires an employer to “engage in the interactive process” with the employee. This means they must understand the limitations the employee has on their ability to do their job and assess whether or not the employer can accommodate these limitations without it creating a significant burden on the employer's operations or the employer can offer up alternative accommodations that will make the situation work.  Unfortunately, most doctors don’t write notes that address how the limitations/needs an employee has can be addressed given the employee's job responsibilities but simply list restrictions or needs, such as no standing for more than 30 minutes, no lifting more than 25 pounds, the employee should work remotely, the employee needs to attend physical therapy three times a week, etc.  This disconnect between these types of doctors’ notes and the reality of the employee’s job duties often create ambiguities and concerns for the employer. That can lead a manager or Human Resources rep to quickly conclude that the company can’t accommodate the employee’s restrictions before anyone at the company has a substantive discussion with the employee first about what the accommodation request really means.  This unfortunately can lead to a termination of employment, swift termination of the employee’s healthcare coverage and income, and potential liability for an employer for failure to engage in the interactive process.

I deal with these scenarios pretty often when I represent both employers and employees (Yes I do work on both sides), and in my experience: (1) most employees don’t know that when they talk to their doctors about getting a note about an accommodation that they should have a substantive conversation with the doctor about their actual job duties before the doctor writes the note, and to avoid a doctor simply writing up a list of restrictions that may not all be necessary given the medical issues or even possible given the employee’s job responsibilities, (2) many managers and Human Resources professionals unfortunately don’t take sufficient time to understand what the request for accommodation really means and to talk to the employee to try to figure out if the accommodations can or can't be offered and/or to together creatively come up with other accommodations so the employee can keep working.

 I recently had a call from a business owner who received an accommodation request from an employee at the end of their medical leave regarding restrictions for returning to work .  Due to vague, seemingly restrictive information the physician provided on a return to work form, the business owner initially thought it would be impossible for the employee to do their job and to be able to return to work.  I recommended that the business owner call the employee before making a decision and walk through all of the information on the doctor’s form, and discuss with the employee their job duties and have the employee convey what he could and couldn’t do at work and how he envisioned his job duties being handled. 

The business owner agreed, and after speaking to that employee quickly determined that the accommodations were not as restrictive as they seemed, and the employee could return to work.  We came up with a letter memorializing what the employee agreed he could do and needed from the employer and what the employer could offer, and the employee returned to work.  The business owner, who was short staffed at the time that the employee requested these accommodations thanked me for my recommendation to have this substantive conversation with the employee.  The employer did not need to fill a position and the employee is thriving. Happy ending for all.