The Importance of the "Interactive Process": Why Communication is Key in ADA Accommodations

We’ve all been there: a valued employee is facing a serious health crisis, and as an employer, you want to do everything you can to support them. You offer flexibility, you reassign tasks, and you wait for them to get better. But what happens when that support isn’t met with communication? Or when the employee repeatedly breaks promises about returning to work?

A recent decision from the Fourth Circuit, Haggins v. Wilson Air Center, LLC, serves as a powerful reminder that while the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations, it also requires employees to engage in a good-faith "interactive process."

The Backstory

DeAnne Haggins, an accounting assistant at Wilson Air Center, was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of breast cancer during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wilson Air initially went above and beyond: they allowed her to work fully remote for months and reassigned her essential in-person duties, like processing paper checks and filing physical vendor records, to her manager.

However, as business returned to normal in 2021, the manager became overwhelmed. Wilson Air asked Haggins to return to the office on a hybrid schedule, just two days a week for a few hours. Haggins agreed on paper, but in practice, she simply didn’t show up.

The Communication Breakdown

Over the course of nearly three months, Wilson Air tried to make it work. They offered her a private office, let her wear a mask, and told her she could come in around her medical appointments. Despite these efforts, Haggins only showed up for two partial days."

The real "nail in the coffin" for the legal case wasn’t just the lack of physical presence: it was the lack of communication. Haggins repeatedly missed work without notice and failed to respond to emails from HR asking for updates. Eventually, Wilson Air terminated her for "job abandonment."

The Court’s Take

The Fourth Circuit affirmed the lower court's dismissal of Haggins's claims, noting a few critical points for every employer to keep in mind:

• Essential Functions Matter: Attendance is a necessary element of most jobs. Because Haggins couldn't perform her in-person filing and payment duties, she wasn't a "qualified individual" under the ADA.
  

• Accommodations are a Two-Way Street: The court emphasized that there is a "reciprocal obligation" to engage in a collaborative search for an accommodation. When an employee ignores an employer's outreach or breaks promises about their schedule, they "foreclose" the path to a reasonable accommodation.
  

• Documentation is Your Friend: Wilson Air succeeded because they had a clear record of their attempts to cooperate, their reiterated requests for a schedule, and the employee’s unexplained absences.
  

The Bottom Line

I often advise my clients to assume the best before jumping to discipline. Perhaps an employee is "lying in a ditch" or in the hospital. But if you’ve reached out via phone, text, and email, and you've offered flexible solutions that are repeatedly ignored, you have a business to run.

The ADA does not require you to eliminate essential functions of a job or wait indefinitely for an employee who refuses to keep you in the loop. By staying flexible but firm on communication requirements, you can support your team while protecting your organization from litigation.