Hospitals Must Consider Accommodation Requests in Pandemic

Doctors and nurses on the front lines of the novel coronavirus with health conditions of their own can request “reasonable accommodations” under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and employers must consider them despite the pandemic, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

That doesn’t necessarily mean managers have to immediately reshuffle critically needed workers in the midst of an unprecedented health crisis, though. The ADA requires accommodations that don’t exert an “undue hardship” on the employer, which moving a doctor or nurse to different duties arguably would be. Health care providers short on personal protective equipment might not have ...