Failure-to-accommodate cases are rarely about the accommodation. They're about the silence: a request that sat in a supervisor's inbox, a denial with no explored alternatives, a process no one can reconstruct because none of it was written down. Courts ask one question again and again — did the employer engage in a good-faith interactive process? — and the answer lives or dies on documentation.
This packet is the process, in writing: a trigger record that starts the clock even when no magic words are used, an essential-functions analysis tested against the real job, a medical information section limited to what the law actually permits, an options table that proves alternatives were explored, a dialogue log, a decision record, and a reassessment schedule.
Who should use this decision packet
- HR professionals handling accommodation requests without counsel on call
- Supervisors who just received a medical note with restrictions
- Employers whose job descriptions haven't been updated in years
- Organizations that keep granting accommodations verbally
What it helps prevent
- Failure-to-accommodate claims built on employer silence
- Accommodation requests that die in a supervisor's inbox
- Essential-function disputes with no current job description behind them
- Denials made without exploring a single alternative
- Medical information scattered through personnel files
What’s inside
- Part 1 — Request / Trigger Record
- Part 2 — Essential Functions
- Part 3 — Medical Information (only what is needed)
- Part 4 — Accommodation Options Explored
- Part 5 — Dialogue Record
- Part 6 — Decision Record
- Part 7 — Reassessment Schedule
Before you process payroll, terminate, classify, deduct, or respond to a claim, get the decision reviewed.
Faulkner HR Solutions helps Texas employers, nonprofits, municipalities, and growing businesses fix the people systems behind recurring workplace problems. If this resource raised a risk flag, do not guess your way through the next step.