The U.S. EEOC’s guidance on reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was published in 1999. Since then and across all of its updates, it has read that if an employee cannot be accommodated in the employee’s current job, and the employer has a vacant position for which the employee meets the minimum qualifications, the employer must or shall reassign the employee into the vacant position, even if there is a more qualified candidate.
But what if the employee can be accommodated in the current position, but also qualifies for a vacant position? May the employer unilaterally choose to reassign the employee?
