A COVID Silver Lining? How Telework May Be a Reasonable Accommodation after All
![handle is hein.journals/ucinlr90 and id is 1294 raw text is: A COVID SILVER LINING? HOw TELEWORK MAY BE A
REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION AFTER ALL
Baylee Kalmbach
I. INTRODUCTION
Since December 2019, the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has
profoundly altered human life.1 The dramatic effects of the pandemic
have especially manifested around workplace procedures, workers' rights
and protections, and the laws that create and enforce such protections.2
For instance, before the pandemic, 20% of employees whose job
requirements allowed them to work from home did so, and this number
more than tripled to 71% in December 2020 as a result of COVID-19 and
stay-at-home mandates.3 Though these orders were initially intended to
slow the spread of the disease, as the need to return to in-person
interaction increases, conversations and procedures demanding
protections for people with pre-existing impairments persist.4 In fact, the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's New York Deputy
Director, Judy Keenan, reported that, workers are filing more charges
alleging their employers failed to accommodate their disabilities during
the pandemic than any other allegation tied to COVID-19.5 While
workers are slowly being integrated back into the office and in-person job
sites, the question remains whether employers need to allow employees
with disabilities to telework in order to accommodate their impairments.
Under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with
Disabilities Act, employers are required to provide reasonable
accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities, unless those
accommodations would cause undue hardship.6 In this context, an
1. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, https://www.who.
int/health-topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_1 [https://perma.cc/XZ67-QA62] (last visited Dec. 2, 2021).
2. Tom Starner, How COVID-19 has fundamentally changed employment', HUMAN RESOURCE
EXECUTIVE (Sept. 7, 2020), https://hrexecutive.com/how-covid-19-has-fundamentally-changed-
employment/ [https://perma.cc/QRP6-KDA8].
3. Kim Parker, Juliana Menasze Horowitz & Rachel Minkin, How the Coronavirus Outbreak
Has -and Hasn't - Changed the Way Americans Work, PEW RESEARCH CENTER (Dec. 9, 2020),
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/12/09/how-the-coronavirus-outbreak-has-and-hasnt-
changed-the-way-americans-work/ [https://perma.cc/675R-9N9Y].
4. Chad Young, COVID-19: Federal Disability-Specific and Other Related Guidance,
DISABILITY EMPLOYMENT POLICY: THE COUNCIL OF STATE GOVERNMENTS (Aug. 13, 2021),
https://seed.csg.org/covid-19-federal-disability-specific-other-related-guidance/ [https://perma.cc/P3CE-
FC5P].
5. Braden Campbell, Pandemic Fueling Disability Accommodation Claims, LAW 360 (May 27,
2020, 10:21 PM), https://www.law360.com/articles/1277246 [https://perma.cc/Q987-4AZR].
6. The Rehabilitation Acts of 1973 and 1974, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990,
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, https://teamster.org/rehabilitation-acts-1973-and-1974-
1294](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/ucinlr90&div=43&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
A COVID Silver Lining? How Telework May Be a Reasonable Accommodation after All
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most