Can Your Accommodations Process Stand Up to Real Employee Stories?
Every scenario in this quiz is based on real, self-reported experiences from full-time employees at organizations with 500 or more employees. These individuals shared their stories with us as part of the 2025 Job Accommodations Experience Report.
Take a few minutes to see how your process would hold up. You’ll get instant feedback on each scenario, as well as practical takeaways you can use to support employees while reducing compliance risk.
Real Report: An employee recovering from surgery requested to return with modified duties. Instead, they were told they couldn’t come back until they were fully healed.
What would your team do?
Correct answer: B
“100% healed” return-to-work policies are likely a violation of the ADA. If an employee can do the essential functions of their job with a reasonable accommodation, they must be allowed to return. Blanket policies put organizations at risk of legal action.
Real Report: A pregnant employee in her third trimester asked for cushioned floor mats due to discomfort while standing. The request sat unresolved for weeks.
What’s the compliance risk here?
Correct answer: C
Under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, employers must respond to reasonable accommodation requests promptly unless it causes an undue hardship. A delay — even for something like floor mats — may be seen as a denial or failure to comply with the law.
Real Report: After requesting a job accommodation, one employee said their pay was cut and they lost their supervisor role.
What’s the likely issue?
Correct answer: A
Employers must avoid any adverse actions that could appear retaliatory. Changing someone’s pay or job status after they request an accommodation can be interpreted as discrimination — even if it wasn’t the intent.
Real Report: An employee requested a remote work accommodation during recovery. Their manager said remote work wasn’t available and offered unpaid leave instead.
How should HR respond?
Correct answer: C
Offering leave before exploring effective accommodations can cut short the ADA’s interactive process. The goal is to keep employees working when possible. Remote work, schedule changes, or modified duties should be considered first. Per EEOC guidance, requiring leave when accommodations would allow work may be seen as offering a less effective solution.
The ADA, FMLA, and PWFA are complex, and even one missed step can put a well-meaning HR team at risk. If you got one or more wrong, you’re not alone. These scenarios are tricky, and when requests come in through managers or emails, it’s easy to miss something — even with experience.
As legal complexity grows, and workforces change, it’s important that HR’s expert human judgment is supported with tools that make the process clear and consistent. AbsenceSoft helps you track every step, reduce admin time, and respond the right way.
