What Is California’s Good Faith Interactive Process?
California’s labor laws offer robust protections for workers, especially for those in protected classes who might otherwise face disadvantages in the workplace. One of the protections established by both the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) is an employer’s obligation to initiate an interactive process upon learning of an employee’s disability. Contact us to discuss the legal options on your unique case today.
What Is the Interactive Process for California Employers?
All California employers with five or more employees must comply with FEHA’s fair employment regulations. This includes a good-faith interactive process. The interactive process refers to an open exchange of communication between an employer and an employee with a disability. When an employer engages in the interactive process in good faith, they discuss with the employee how they can make reasonable accommodations for the employee’s disability that would allow the employee to continue to work.
The interactive process begins when an employer becomes aware of an employee’s disability or the need for accommodations. A good-faith interactive process serves as mediation between the employer and employee to agree on terms that allow the employee to work without demanding unreasonable actions on the employer’s part that would negatively impact their business.
Examples of Reasonable Accommodations In a Good-Faith Interactive Process
California requires employers to accommodate a disabled employee unless it would cause them undue hardship. Examples of reasonable accommodations that would allow an employee to continue to work without negative impacts on the business include the following:
- Changing the employee’s job duties to those that are manageable for them
- Modifying an employee’s work schedule
- Giving access to adaptive equipment or mechanical aids
- Allowing leave for medical care
- Relocating the employee’s work area
- Allowing flexible work hours
- Access to an interpreter or reader
- Access to alcohol and drug rehabilitation services
The interactive process typically begins when an employee notifies their employer of their disability, but an employer may also initiate the process if they learn of the disability through a third party.
Engaging Fairly In a Good Faith Interactive Process In California
During the interactive process, an employer must make every effort to engage fairly in their attempt to accommodate a disabled employee without undue hardship. This requires the following:
- Taking prompt action and avoiding unreasonable delays
- Collaborating fairly in good faith throughout the process
- Keeping accurate records of all exchanges
- Respecting confidentiality
- Promptly implement the agreed-upon accommodation or solution
- Providing training for personnel on accommodation policies in the workplace
All California businesses should have reasonable accommodation policies and provide personnel training on recognizing and responding appropriately to reasonable accommodation requests.
What If a California Employer Fails to Uphold a Good-Faith Interactive Process?
Under the California Civil Rights Act, the law states the following:
“In California, it is unlawful for an employer to fail to engage in a timely, good-faith, interactive process. The point of the process is to remove barriers that keep people from performing jobs that they could do with some form of accommodation.”
A good-faith interactive process begins promptly after the initial notification. It is an open dialogue between employer and employee that enables the employer to assess the situation and offer reasonable accommodations that allow the employee to continue working without negatively impacting productivity. If an employer fails to engage fairly with the employee during the interactive process, it opens them up to a potential disability discrimination lawsuit.
Unreasonable delays, refusing to engage in the process, or ignoring the employee’s disability are all examples of bad faith in the interactive process, which is discrimination. Fortunately, legal remedies exist to demand accountability for discrimination, including a claim for compensation against an employer who engages in a bad-faith interactive process for an employee’s disability. Contact our experienced discrimination lawyers in Orange County today.