Reasonable Workplace Accommodation for Persons with Disabilities – Recent European Practice
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6379-7545
Abstract
The right to reasonable accommodation at work derives from the principle of equal treatment of persons with disabilities. By embracing the concept of the full equality of persons with disabilities in all areas of social life and activity, the right to reasonable accommodation has come to be regarded as a functional prerequisite for the effective realisation of the human right to work. Hence, this research examines emerging interpretations and challenges relating to the implementation of the right to reasonable accommodation, as reflected in the jurisprudence of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and European courts, as well as through an analysis of selected cases from the practice of courts and national human rights institutions in European countries. The study aims to identify the fundamental prerequisites for the realisation of this right and to contribute to the development of practical standards that facilitate its effective implementation and promote the equal participation of persons with disabilities in the labour market.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
Babbitt, E. M. & Hawley, C. E. 2023. Remote Work as a Reasonable Accommodation: Implications for Colleges and Universities. Journal of College and University Law, 48(1), pp. 1-33.
Daly, P. & Whelan, D. 2021. Disability in Employment Equality Law: A Reappraisal of the Reasonable Accommodation Duty and Issues Arising in its Implementation. Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, 28(6), pp. 744-759. https://doi.org/10.1177/1023263X211035268
Dong, S., Fabian, E. & Xu, J. 2016. Requesting Workplace Accommodations: Impact of Self-Efficacy, Outcome Expectancy, and Positive Affect. Rehabilitation Psychology, 61(4), pp. 371-379. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/rep0000102
Dong, S., MacDonald-Wilson K. L. & Fabian, E. 2010. Development of the Reasonable Accommodation Factor Survey: Results and Implications. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 53(3), pp. 153-162, https://doi.org/10.1177/0034355210364060
Equinet Working Group on Equality Law in Practice. 2021. Case Law Compendium on Reasonable Accommodation for Persons with Disabilities. Brussels.
Golda, P. B., Oirea, S. N., Fabiana, E. S. & Wewiorski, N. J. 2012. Negotiating Reasonable Workplace Accommodations: Perspectives of Employers, Employees with Disabilities, and Rehabilitation Service Providers. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 37(1), pp. 25-37. https://doi.org/10.3233/JVR-2012-0597
Gyulavári, T. 2023. Recent CJEU Case Law on ‘Reasonable Accommodation’ at Work: Towards the Recognition of a New Discrimination Form. ERA Forum, 24, pp. 361-377, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12027-023-00772-7
Hickox, S. A. & Case, K. 2020. Risking Stigmatization to Gain Accommodation, University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law, 22(3), pp. 533-590.
Karjalainen, K. & Ylhainen, M. 2021. On the Obligation to Make Reasonable Accommodation for an Employee with a Disability. European Labour Law Journal, 12(4), pp. 547–563. https://doi.org/10.1177/20319525211027430
Kuzminac, M. 2024. Analysis of Indirect and Associative Discrimination in Employment from the European Union Law Perspective. Strani pravni život, 68(1), pp. 15-37. https://doi.org/10.56461/SPZ_24102KJ
Lawson, A. & Beckett, A. E. 2021. The Social and Human Rights Models of Disability: Towards a Complementarity Thesis. The International Journal of Human Rights, 25(2), pp. 348-379. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2020.1783533
MacDonald-Wilson, K. L., Fabian, E. S. & Dong, S. 2008. Best Practices in Developing Reasonable Accommodations in the Workplace: Findings Based on the Research Literature. The Rehabilitation Professional, 16(4), pp. 221-232. https://doi.org/10.70385/001c.146762
McGrath, D. & O'Sullivan, M. 2022. What is Reasonable? The Operation of ‘Reasonable Accommodation’ and ‘Disability’ Provisions under the Employment Equality Acts 1998-2015. The Irish Journal of Management, 41(1), pp. 37-51. https://doi.org/10.2478/ijm-2022-0004
Molović, M. 2023. Prilika za ravnopravnost: analiza kvota za zapošljavanje osoba sa invaliditetom u Srbiji i državama regiona. Strani pravni život, 57(3), pp. 551-565. https://doi.org/10.56461/SPZ_23310KJ
National Disability Authority. 2019. Reasonable Accommodations: Obstacles and Opportunities to the Employment of Persons with a Disability. Dublin.
Rabrenović, A. 2024. Zapošljavanje osoba sa intelektualnim invaliditetom u Srbiji – realnost ili mit. Radno i socijalno pravo, 28(1), pp. 149-163. https://doi.org/10.56461/rrsp2401_07
Rabrenović, A. & Tintor, Lj. 2024. Supported Decision-Making for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities – What is a Way Forward. Društvo i politika, 5(5), pp. 85-100, https://doi.org/10.7251/FPNDP2405085R
Rajić Ćalić, J. 2022. Discrimination of Girls and Women with Disabilities in Education and Employment. In: Kovačević, Lj., Vujadinović, D. & Evola, M. (eds.), Ukrštena diskriminacija žena i devojčica sa invaliditetom i instrumenti za njihovo osnaživanje [Intersectional discrimination of women and girls with disabilities and means of their empowerment]. Beograd: Pravni fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu, pp. 531-544.
Rajić, J. 2016. Problem zapošljavanja lica sa invaliditetom. Strani pravni život, 60(3), pp. 173-189. https://doi.org/10.56461/spz16312R
Sunstein, C. R. 2007. Cost-Benefit Analysis without Analyzing Cost or Benefits: Reasonable Accommodation, Balancing, and Stigmatic Harms. University of Chicago Law Review, 74, pp. 1895-1909.
Tintor, Lj. 2022. Intersectional Discrimination of Women with Disabilities and Legal Regime of Environmental Protection. In: Kovačević, Lj., Vujadinović, D. & Evola, M. (eds.), Ukrštena diskriminacija žena i devojčica sa invaliditetom i instrumenti za njihovo osnaživanje [Intersectional discrimination of women and girls with disabilities and means of their empowerment]. Beograd: Pravni fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu, pp. 95-114.
Tintor, Lj. & Rabrenović, A. 2024. Poslovna sposobnost kao osnova za kvalitetan život osoba sa invaliditetom: međunarodni instrumenti i praksa Evropskog suda za ljudska prava. Pravni horizonti, 7(9), pp. 105-121. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14534980
Waddington, L. 2008. When it is Reasonable for Europeans to be Confused: Understanding when Disability Accommodation is “Reasonable” from a Comparative Perspective. Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal, 29(3), pp. 317-340.
Legal Sources
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities General Comment No. 6 (2018) on Equality and Non-Discrimination, CRPD/C/GC/6, 26 April 2018.
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, General Comment No. 8 (2022) on the Right of Persons with Disabilities to Work and Employment, CRPD/C/GC/8, 7 October 2022.
UN General Assembly, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006), Resolution A/RES/61/106.
Case Law
County Court in Pula, decision of 27 March 2017, Gž-67/17-2.
Court of Justice of the European Union, HK Danmark, acting on behalf of Jette Ring v Dansk almennyttigt Boligselskab (C‑335/11, ECLI:EU:C:2013:222).
Court of Justice of the European Union, HK Danmark, acting on behalf of Lone Skouboe Werge v Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening, acting on behalf of Pro Display A/S (C‑337/11, ECLI:EU:C:2013:222), Judgment of 11 April 2013.
Court of Justice of the European Union, TC and UB v. Komisia za zashtita ot diskriminatsia and VA (C-824/19, ECLI:EU:C:2021:862), Judgment of 21 October 2021.
Court of Justice of the European Union, XX v Tartu Vangla (C-795/19, ECLI:EU:C:2020:961), Judgment of 15 July 2021.
Court of Justice of the European Union, XXXX v HR Rail SA (C-485/20, ECLI:EU:C:2022:85), Judgment of 10 February 2022.
Equality Tribunal of Ireland, decision on 6 February 2012, An Employee v A Logistics Company DEC-E2012-11.
European Court of Human Rights, Çam v Turkey, Application no. 51500/08, Judgment of 23 February 2016.
European Court of Human Rights, G.L. v. Italy, Application no. 59751/15, Judgment of 10 September 2020.
European Court of Human Rights, Stoian v. Romania, Application no. 289/14, Judgment of 25 June 2019.
Federal Labour Court of Germany, decision of 26 June 2014, 8 AZR 547/13.
Labour Court of Brussels, decision of 20 February 2018, 2016/AB/959.
Labour Court of Ireland, decision of 24 January 2018, Swan O’Sullivan Accountants & Registered Auditors v Seamus Counihan [2018] EDA1810.
Labour Court of Liege, decision of 26 June 2016, R.G. 15/167/A.
Labour Court of Sweden, decision of 22 January 2020, Stockholms läns landsting, AD 2020 Nr 3.
Labour Court of Sweden, decision of 23 October 2013, Veolia Transport Sverige AB, Case 78/13.
Labour Court of Sweden, Södertörn University, Case A 146/16, Judgement 51/17.
Municipal Court in Rijeka; decision of 30 May 2016, P-102/15.
Regional Court in Bratislava, decision of 27 August 2019, 8 CO/232/2018.