Last reviewed: October 2026
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This free reasonable accommodation request checklist runs one request from one employee or job applicant, from the day it is made to the review after the change starts. It follows the interactive process for reasonable accommodation under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and, for Great Britain, the duty to make reasonable adjustments in the Equality Act 2010; pick the law on the first task and the checklist shows the matching notes and tasks. HR records the request and keeps medical information confidential, the manager sets out the job and its essential functions, documentation is asked for only when it is needed, and the options are discussed with the person and assessed for effectiveness, cost and disruption. A decision maker decides with reasons, the person is told in writing, and the change is put in place and reviewed. When the accommodation is time off in the US, the Leave of Absence (FMLA) Checklist may run alongside it.
In the United States, Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act requires a covered employer to make reasonable accommodation for a qualified applicant or employee with a disability unless it would cause undue hardship. In Great Britain, the Equality Act 2010 requires every employer to take the steps it is reasonable to have to take to avoid a substantial disadvantage to a disabled applicant or employee. The words differ, but the work is the same: hear the request, understand the job, talk to the person, find something that works and decide with reasons.
This checklist runs one request for one person. It is not a health and safety check: the DSE Workstation Assessment Checklist assesses every display screen user’s workstation, and this checklist can call for that assessment when a workstation is part of the request. Two other checklists cover the steps around it.
Covers: one employee’s or applicant’s request, from the first conversation to the review: confidentiality, essential functions, documentation, the interactive discussion, options, undue hardship, the decision and the change itself.
Where: the United States (ADA) and Great Britain (Equality Act 2010).
Output: a change that works, a decision with its reasons and a confidential record.
Covers: a US FMLA leave case: eligibility, the WH-381 and WH-382 notices, certification, health coverage and job restoration.
Where: the United States, federal law.
Use it: when the accommodation is time off and the FMLA may also apply. Both can run at once. Leave of Absence (FMLA) Checklist.
Covers: the return after sickness, injury or leave: fit notes or fitness for duty, a phased return and follow-up reviews.
Where: the United States and the United Kingdom.
Use it: for the return itself; run a request here when the person needs a lasting change to the job. Return-to-Work Checklist.
Eight phases follow one request from the first conversation to the review. The jurisdiction on the first task shows the notes and tasks for the ADA in the United States or the Equality Act 2010 in Great Britain, or keeps the checklist general. An applicant, a schedule change, equipment or a workstation, time off, a request for documentation, documentation that is still insufficient, a cost or disruption concern, an alternative or a refusal, a withdrawn request and an accommodation that needs changing each add their own tasks. The decision maker’s decision is the gate: nothing after it can be completed until it is recorded.
A request does not need special words or a form. Treat any statement that links a change at work to a health condition as a request, whoever passes it on, and start this checklist the day it reaches you. Enter the date of the request first: every due date in Phases 1 to 6 counts in business days from it.
Before weighing any option, be clear what the job is for. The essential functions are its fundamental duties: an accommodation must let the person do them, and you never have to remove one. The Equality Act does not use the term, but the same analysis shows where a disadvantage falls.
Ask for medical information only when the disability or the need for the change is not obvious, and then only for what you need. Information already on file that answers the question is enough. Asking for documentation adds two tasks, and documentation that is still insufficient after the person has had a chance to add to it adds a referral.
Meet the person, talk about the barrier and what might remove it, and write down what was said. The EEOC calls this the interactive process; in Great Britain the same conversation shows which steps would be reasonable. The person does not have to name the exact change, but does need to describe the problem.
List every option that could work, check each against the job, and look at cost and disruption only for the ones that would be effective. The kinds of change asked for on the first task add a task for a schedule change, a workstation or equipment, and time off, and a cost or disruption concern adds an individual assessment.
The decision maker decides once the options are assessed. Where more than one option works, the person’s preference should carry weight, but you may choose the one that is cheaper or easier to provide. The decision is the gate: nothing in Phases 7 and 8 can be completed until it is made. An alternative, a refusal or a withdrawn request each add a task.
Tell the person the decision in writing, then make the change by the target start date on the first task. Ordering and set-up count back from that date, so update it if the decision moved it.
The duty is ongoing. Review the accommodation with the person, change it if it is not working, and keep the records. The review counts six weeks of business days from the target start date.
The same request under the ADA and under the Equality Act 2010, with the provision each point comes from. The jurisdiction on the first task shows the matching notes in the checklist.
| Point | United States: ADA Title I | Great Britain: Equality Act 2010 |
|---|---|---|
| The duty | Reasonable accommodation for a qualified applicant or employee with a disability, unless it would cause undue hardship (29 CFR 1630.9) | Reasonable adjustments: the steps it is reasonable to have to take to avoid a substantial disadvantage (ss.20, 21, 39(5) and Schedule 8) |
| Which employers | 15 or more employees in each of 20 or more calendar weeks this year or last (29 CFR 1630.2(e)) | Every employer, whatever its size (s.39(5)); Northern Ireland has its own law |
| Who is protected | An impairment that substantially limits a major life activity, or a record of one; not someone only regarded as disabled (1630.2(g), 1630.9(e)) | A physical or mental impairment with a substantial and long-term effect on day-to-day activities (s.6, Schedule 1); cancer, HIV and MS always count |
| When it starts | When the person, or someone for them, says they need a change at work for a medical reason, in any words (EEOC guidance) | When you know, or could reasonably be expected to know, of the disability and the disadvantage (Schedule 8, para 20) |
| Finding the answer | An informal, interactive process with the person (1630.2(o)(3) and the appendix to 1630.9) | The Act sets the test of what is reasonable; talking to the person is how you find the steps |
| The limit | Undue hardship: significant difficulty or expense, judged on the factors in 1630.2(p) | Whether it is reasonable for you to have to take the step (s.20) |
| Who pays | The employer, net of outside funding and tax credits; the person may choose to pay the part that would be an undue hardship | The employer; the disabled person cannot be asked to pay (s.20(7)); Access to Work may fund extra support |
| Medical information | Separate confidential medical file; supervisors told only restrictions and accommodations (1630.14) | Special category data under the UK GDPR |
| Applicants | No disability questions before an offer, only about the ability to do the job (1630.13, 1630.14(a)) | No health questions before an offer, except for set purposes such as adjustments for an interview (s.60) |
| Records | Keep requests for one year, or until any charge is resolved (29 CFR 1602.14) | As long as your data protection retention policy allows |
The appendix to the EEOC’s regulations describes four steps once an accommodation is requested. The checklist follows them and adds a review, because the duty is ongoing.
| Step | What it involves | Where in the checklist |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Analyse the job | The job’s purpose and its essential functions | Phase 2 |
| 2. Consult the person | The precise job-related limitations and how they could be overcome | Phases 3 and 4 |
| 3. Identify and assess options | Possible accommodations, worked out with the person, and how effective each would be | Phase 5 |
| 4. Choose and put it in place | The person’s preference considered, then the option that is most appropriate for both sides, put in place | Phases 6 and 7 |
| Review | Whether it still works as the condition, the job or the workplace changes | Phase 8 |
Sources. The ADA regulations, 29 CFR Part 1630 and their appendix, the EEOC’s enforcement guidance on reasonable accommodation and undue hardship, 29 CFR 1602.14 on records, the Equality Act 2010 and gov.uk’s Access to Work guide. State laws and other countries’ laws may add rights, and this table is not legal advice.
Enter the date of the request and every step to the decision gets a due date counted in business days, so a request made in passing is acknowledged, discussed and decided on time. Open requests show on the Reports Grid, and overdue alerts go to the people assigned.
One answer on the first task shows the ADA notes and tasks, such as coverage, the definition of disability and outside funding, or the Equality Act ones, such as the long-term test and Access to Work. A schedule change, new equipment or time off adds the task that checks it, and an applicant gets the application process adjusted.
The decision maker’s decision is a gate: the letter, the change and the review cannot be ticked off until it is recorded with its reasons. A refusal adds a task to explain it in writing, and the activity log shows who did what and when. See how approval steps work.
CheckFlow does not decide whether someone is disabled, which accommodation is reasonable or whether a cost is an undue hardship. HR and the decision maker decide, with the law and, where needed, legal or occupational health advice. CheckFlow makes sure each step happens on time, that every task has an owner and that the request leaves a complete record. HR checklist software shows how requests, leave and reviews run from templates across a team.
When the accommodation is time off in the US, run the Leave of Absence (FMLA) Checklist alongside it. Plan a return after a long absence with the Return-to-Work Checklist, assess a display screen workstation with the DSE Workstation Assessment Checklist, handle a complaint about a refusal with the Grievance Procedure Checklist, and put your accommodation policy in the handbook with the Employee Handbook Update & Rollout Checklist.
Leave of Absence (FMLA) Checklist
Return-to-Work Checklist
DSE Workstation Assessment Checklist
Grievance Procedure Checklist
Employee Handbook Update & Rollout Checklist
Describe the process in a sentence and the AI checklist generator drafts the phases and tasks for you.
Every step of one request: recording it the day it is made, keeping medical information in a separate confidential file, setting out the job and its essential functions, asking for documentation only when it is needed, the interactive discussion with the person, listing and assessing options for effectiveness, cost and disruption, the decision with its reasons, a written reply, putting the change in place and reviewing it. This template adds the steps for applicants, schedule changes, equipment, time off and refusals when they apply.
No. The EEOC says a request can be made in plain English and need not mention the ADA or the words “reasonable accommodation”: the person only has to say they need a change at work for a reason related to a medical condition. A family member, friend or health professional can ask for them, and the request does not have to be in writing. In Great Britain the duty applies once you know, or could reasonably be expected to know, about the disability and the disadvantage.
An informal discussion between the employer and the person to find an accommodation that works. The appendix to the EEOC’s regulations describes four steps: analyse the job and its essential functions, consult the person about the precise limitations, identify possible accommodations with them and assess how effective each would be, then consider their preference and put the most appropriate one in place. When the answer is obvious, the steps can be very short.
Under the ADA, yes, when the disability or the need for the accommodation is not obvious, but only the documentation needed to show the disability and why the change is needed, usually not the complete medical records. If it is insufficient, the employer should explain what is missing and allow the person to provide it; after that it may ask for an assessment by a professional it chooses and pays for. Any medical information is kept confidential and apart from the personnel file.
Significant difficulty or expense for the employer, judged on the net cost of the accommodation after any outside funding or tax credits, the resources of the site and of the whole organisation, the type of operation and the impact on the site, including on other employees’ ability to do their jobs. It needs an individual assessment with evidence, not a general conclusion, and co-workers’ fears or morale do not count. If one option is an undue hardship, the employer must still provide another that works.
The employer. Section 20(7) of the Equality Act 2010 says an employer cannot ask the disabled person to pay any of the cost of complying with the duty. Separately, the person can apply to Access to Work, a government grant for support such as specialist equipment, a support worker or travel to work. It does not pay for the reasonable adjustments an employer must make, and Northern Ireland has its own scheme.
Yes. Both laws cover applicants as well as employees, so an interview, test or other step in the hiring process must be adjusted where needed, and judged separately from anything the job itself may need. Both also limit questions about health or disability before a job offer. A move to a vacant role is not an option for an applicant under the ADA.
Neither law sets a number of days. The EEOC says an employer should respond expeditiously, move the interactive process along as quickly as possible and act promptly to provide the accommodation, and that unnecessary delay can itself break the ADA. This template counts every step to the decision from the date of the request, about four weeks in all, and you can shorten the due dates in the template.
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