The California Legislature is in a study period to determine if employees who until now have worked from home can continue to do so or if some type of prior notice expressing the need to return to the workplace should be implemented. Senate Bill (SB) 731 seeks to review this situation through a legislative committee for which a hearing has been set for May 18, 2023.
In its current version, draft SB 731 requires employers to give their remote employees 30 days’ notice to inform them of the following:
● Every remote employee has the right to request that they be allowed to continue working remotely as an accommodation if they have some type of disability.
● Every employer is required to initiate a timely and good faith interactive process to determine whether there are effective reasonable accommodations for your disability, including telecommuting.
● If it is determined that an employee can perform all essential functions remotely, the company must grant their request to work remotely. Unless this represents an undue hardship on the company, reasonable alternative accommodations are available, or the employee in question does not meet the legal definition of disability.
This bill stems from a general concern that there are diminishing opportunities for employees with certain disabilities to continue working. Additionally, recent surveys and studies have shown that a large percentage of employees – whether they suffer from some type of disability or not – prefer to continue working remotely even if the needs created by the COVID-19 pandemic are considered already exceeded.
If approved, SB 731 faces the possibility that requests for remote work will increase. This is not only from employees whose disabilities qualify them for this benefit but also from those who prefer not to return to the workplace. To prevent potential abuse of this benefit, employers will need to treat each request individually, go through the required interactive process with each employee to determine if they have a qualifying disability, and, if so, assess whether telecommuting or some other alternative reasonable adjustment.