A reasonable accommodation is an adjustment made in a system to accommodate or make fair the same system for an individual based on a proven need. That need can vary. Accommodations can be religious, physical, mental or emotional, academic, or employment-related, and law often mandates them. Each country has its own system of reasonable accommodations. The United Nations use this term in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, saying refusal to make accommodation results in discrimination. It defines a "reasonable accommodation" as:
Financial costs
Employers and managers are often concerned about the potential cost associated with providing accommodations to employees with disabilities. However, many accommodations, such as moving an employee to a different desk or changing the work schedule, do not have any direct cash costs (56% in a survey of employers conducted by JAN), and most others have only one-time costs (e.g., to buy a different style of computer mouse). Accommodation costs may be offset by the savings associated with employing people with disabilities (higher performance, lower turnover costs).
Competing accommodation needs
Rarely, two people will need accommodations that conflict with each other. Creative problem solving may be required to find ways to accommodate both people. For example, the United States Department of Justice recommends that if a program serves a person with a service dog and a person who is allergic to dogs, that the program separate them physically, by asking them to stay in different rooms or on opposite sides of the same room. In some cases, the accommodations that are practical may not be the first choice for all participants. For example, a person who has a hearing impairment may not be able to understand the artificial voice generated by the text-to-speech device used by a person who is unable to speak, so they may have to find a way to communicate that does not rely on that device, even if the non-speaking person would prefer to use that device.
Europe
United Kingdom
The laws of England, Wales, and Scotland require employers to make reasonable accommodations for disabled employees, initially under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, and now under the Equality Act 2010. Failure to do so can give rise to a complaint by an employee to an employment tribunal.
North America
Canada
In Canada equality rights, as set out in provincial and federal anti-discrimination laws and in section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, require that accommodation be made to various minorities. With a new addition being "family status" being included as well. (The origin of the term reasonable accommodation in Canadian law is found in its labour law jurisprudence, specifically Ontario (Human Rights Commission) v Simpsons-Sears Ltd, [1985] 2 SCR 536, and is argued to be the obligation of employers to change some general rules for certain employees, under the condition that this does not cause "undue hardship".) In Canada reasonable accommodation also means a legal and constitutional concept that requires Canadian public institutions to adapt to the religious and cultural practices of minorities as long as these practices do not violate the other rights and freedoms.
In Québec the Bouchard-Taylor Commission examined the subject of reasonable accommodation due to religious and cultural differences.
United States
In the United States, federal law requires that reasonable accommodations be made by providers of employment, education, or housing; and in courts and other public venues.