Requested an accommodation and got punished? The interactive-process requirement is where most employers slip.
ADA accommodation in Michigan starts with a good-faith request and an interactive process. The ADA and Michigan PWDCRA require employers to engage in a good-faith interactive process when an employee requests an accommodation for a disability.
What the ADA requires.
The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities and requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations for known disabilities unless doing so would impose an undue hardship.
Michigan’s Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act (PWDCRA) provides a parallel state-law claim, sometimes with broader coverage — notably, it reaches smaller employers than the ADA’s 15-employee threshold.
The single most important concept is the interactive process: once the employer is on notice that you have a disability and need an accommodation, both parties must engage in good faith to find one that works.
Failure to accommodate vs. retaliation.
Failure to accommodate
The employee gave notice of a disability and requested a reasonable accommodation. The employer failed to engage in the interactive process or denied the accommodation without an undue-hardship showing.
Retaliation
Adverse action because the employee requested an accommodation or complained about disability discrimination. The request itself is protected activity.
What the ADA requires Michigan employers to do
Two statutes — federal and state — sit behind every Michigan ADA accommodation case.
The ADA
The federal Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq., requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees with disabilities — unless the accommodation would cause undue hardship. The federal ADA also prohibits retaliation against any employee who requests an accommodation.
Michigan PWDCRA
Michigan’s Persons With Disabilities Civil Rights Act, MCL 37.1101 et seq., imposes a parallel state-law obligation and reaches smaller employers that the federal ADA does not cover. PWDCRA claims often carry broader compensatory recovery without the federal ADA’s statutory caps.
How it’s supposed to work
When you request an accommodation, the ADA requires your employer to engage in an interactive process with you in good faith. The basic shape is straightforward:
- Notice: you put the employer on notice that you have a disability and need an accommodation. You don’t have to use any magic words; “I need help with X because of Y medical condition” is enough.
- Documentation request: the employer can ask for limited medical documentation of the disability and the need for the specific accommodation — not your full medical history.
- Discussion: the employer and you discuss possible accommodations. Both sides are supposed to bring options.
- Resolution: the employer either provides a reasonable accommodation, offers a different reasonable accommodation that addresses the limitation, or shows undue hardship.
What the law does not allow: ignoring the request, dragging the process out for months with paperwork demands that go beyond what’s necessary, declaring “no accommodations are available” without engaging, or jumping straight to discipline or termination. Failure to engage in the interactive process in good faith is itself an ADA violation — separate from any failure to provide a specific accommodation.
What ADA retaliation looks like
There are recurring fact patterns in ADA retaliation cases. If any of these matches what happened to you, the case is worth a closer look:
- Terminated within 30 days of an accommodation request, with no prior performance issues documented.
- Sudden scrutiny: closer monitoring, write-ups, or surveillance that begin only after the employee discloses a disability.
- Denied promotion that was discussed before the accommodation request — and given to a non-disabled comparator.
- New “performance” issues that materialize for the first time only after disability disclosure.
- “Accommodation” reassignment to a worse role that isn’t actually equivalent and wasn’t what the employee requested.
- Pressure to take a buyout or sign a separation agreement instead of returning to work after leave.
- Refusal without engagement: the accommodation request was deemed “unreasonable” without any discussion of what would be.
What we look for in an ADA retaliation case
The documents and facts that matter most are typically:
- The written accommodation request: email is best, because it date-stamps the disclosure.
- The employer’s response: any response — even a non-response — can be evidence.
- Performance reviews: from before and after the accommodation request.
- Comparator evidence: employees without disabilities doing the same job and treated more favorably.
- The written reason for the adverse action: and any shifting or contradictory explanations.
- Witnesses: to the accommodation conversation or to retaliatory comments.
Save every email and text related to your disability, your accommodation request, and your termination. Save them to a personal account before you lose work-system access.
What you can recover
ADA remedies include back pay, front pay, compensatory damages for emotional distress, and reasonable attorney’s fees. Punitive damages are available under the federal ADA if the employer acted with malice or reckless indifference to your federally protected rights — but punitive and compensatory damages combined are statutorily capped based on employer size, ranging from $50,000 (15–100 employees) to $300,000 (more than 500 employees).
Michigan PWDCRA claims sometimes allow broader compensatory recovery without those federal caps. Damages depend entirely on the facts of the case.
Think you have a case? Let’s find out.
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