Survivor-Specific Letters

Decline EAP Referral While Maintaining Accommodation Request

A fully-written letter you can copy or download. Below the letter we explain why it is written the way it is, the mistakes most people make, and the legal authorities the language invokes.

The letter

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To: HR at [Employer Name]
From: [Your Full Name]
Date: [Today's Date]
Subject: Accommodation Request — Response to EAP Referral

Dear [HR Contact Name],

Thank you for the information about the Employee Assistance Program and for sharing the referral details.

I appreciate the offer, but I am declining to use the EAP for this matter. I already work with an independent licensed clinician who is providing the ongoing treatment that supports my functional status. Adding a short-term clinical relationship through the EAP would not be integrated with that care and would not serve the purpose. EAP counseling is also typically limited to a small number of sessions and is not a substitute for the longer-term treatment my condition requires.

I want to separate the EAP offer from my pending accommodation request. My ADA accommodation request is still active and open. The specific accommodations I requested on [Date of Original Request] are:

1. [Summarize first accommodation from your original request.]
2. [Summarize second accommodation.]
3. [Summarize additional items as applicable.]

As of today, [Number] business days have passed since my original request. I am still waiting for a substantive response and for a meeting to discuss the interactive process.

I want to flag that offering an EAP referral is not a response to an accommodation request. Referring an employee to the EAP does not satisfy the employer's obligation to engage in the interactive process. Please schedule a meeting to discuss my original request within the next five business days. If the accommodations as written are not feasible, propose alternatives that address the same functional limitations so we can move the process forward.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

[Your Full Name]
[Your Work Email]
[Your Phone Number]

Replace every bracketed prompt with your own information before sending. Everything in brackets is for you. Everything outside brackets is the letter.

Before you send this

Many employers do not handle FMLA paperwork themselves. They hand it off to a third-party administrator, usually called a TPA. A TPA is a leave-management vendor, like Sedgwick, Unum, Lincoln, or The Hartford, that your employer pays to process claims. TPAs have an incentive to close claims quickly, and they use a predictable set of tactics to push employees into giving up more than the law actually requires. Watch for these:

Blanket HIPAA authorization forms. These are not required for FMLA. The WH-380-E certification is. A broad HIPAA release can pull therapy notes, substance use records, and unrelated medical history into a corporate vendor's database.
Demands for records beyond the WH-380-E. The law limits what your employer or its TPA can require to what is necessary to determine FMLA eligibility. You are not obligated to provide a full chart.
Artificial delays that trip deadlines. If the TPA says your certification is incomplete, they must tell you in writing exactly what is missing and give you seven calendar days to fix it. Silence is not a legal denial.
Direct calls to your healthcare provider. TPA claim examiners cannot call your provider for general information. Contact for clarification must be routed through a healthcare professional designated by the employer.
Pressure to use an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) instead of accommodations. An EAP is a short-term counseling benefit your employer funds, usually limited to three to eight sessions. An EAP referral is not a response to an ADA accommodation request, and engaging with the EAP can muddy your record.

Watch out for the sign-up process. HR typically sends you to a TPA website to register and "start your claim." Those sign-up flows are where most of the traps live: pre-checked HIPAA authorization boxes, fields asking you to enter your diagnosis, current medications, symptoms, or the contact information for your treating providers. None of that is required to open an FMLA claim. Fill in only the administrative fields (name, employee ID, employer, dates) and leave clinical fields blank.

If the portal will not let you proceed without medical entries, or if anything about the process feels coercive, raise the concern in writing. A short email to HR and the TPA is enough: say that the portal appears to be asking for information that goes beyond what the FMLA certification requires, that you understand the employer's information rights are limited to what is necessary to determine FMLA eligibility, and that you would like to submit your certification through an alternative channel (email or fax to the TPA directly, with your provider sending the completed WH-380-E to that address). Wait for a written response. Only use the alternative if HR or the TPA agrees. Putting the concern in writing either gets you the alternative or creates a paper trail that protects you if the claim is later denied or delayed.

If any of this is happening, read Protecting Your Medical Records, FMLA and HIPAA Privacy Rights, or use the letter that limits records release to a TPA. If you need to talk to someone free of charge, see our list of free legal helplines and crisis lines.

When to use this letter

You asked HR for a reasonable accommodation. Instead of engaging in the interactive process, HR offered to refer you to the Employee Assistance Program (EAP). You want to decline the EAP referral without having it count as a rejection of 'help,' and you want your accommodation request to stay on track.

EAP referrals are often used to redirect an accommodation request into something cheaper and less legally binding. Once you engage with an EAP, an employer can later argue 'we offered help and you declined it,' even though EAP counseling is not a substitute for accommodations and has limited confidentiality.

This letter thanks the employer for the offer, declines it on the record, and immediately redirects the conversation back to the ADA interactive process. It protects you from the 'we offered help' argument without sounding hostile.

Why the letter is written this way

Each paragraph is doing specific legal work.

01
Why thank the employer first
A hostile tone in a written record can be used later to argue you were not engaging in good faith. A gracious opening followed by a firm redirect reads as professional and lets the legal substance carry the weight.
02
Why decline on the record
Silence or ignoring an EAP referral can later be characterized as 'employee did not follow up on offered assistance.' Declining in writing defeats that framing and explains why, in clinical terms, the EAP is not appropriate for your situation.
03
Why restate the original accommodations
HR routinely loses or reframes accommodation requests in the shift between communications. Restating each numbered accommodation in this letter keeps them on the record and gives HR no way to claim they thought the request had changed.
04
Why reference the EEOC position
The EEOC has been explicit that an EAP referral is not a reasonable accommodation and does not satisfy the interactive-process obligation. Citing this forecloses the most common employer response to an ADA request ('we offered you the EAP, so we did our part').
05
Why set a new five-day deadline
Letting the original request drift into indefinite 'we are considering it' territory is the most common failure mode. A new, short deadline creates a clear benchmark for failure-to-engage in the interactive process.

Don't do this

The mistakes that undo the letter.

01Attending an EAP session 'just in case' while the accommodation request is pending. It muddies the record and can be used to argue you accepted the offered assistance.
02Declining the EAP in a hostile tone. Even a fair grievance can be undercut by language that reads as defensive or adversarial on paper.
03Not restating the original accommodations. HR departments rotate personnel. The person reading this letter may not know what you originally asked for.
04Letting the request sit without a new deadline. Without a written benchmark, the case for failure-to-engage becomes much harder to prove later.
05Sending this only to a supervisor. Keep HR in the formal channel and use supervisors for working logistics, not for driving legal process.

Legal authorities cited

The language invokes real regulations.

42 U.S.C. § 12112: ADA Title I discrimination prohibition
29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(o)(3): Interactive process
29 C.F.R. § 1630.9: Effective accommodations
EEOC Enforcement Guidance No. 915.002: Reasonable accommodation and interactive process
42 C.F.R. Part 2: Confidentiality of substance use records (limited scope)

Keep reading

Where to go next.

LeaveRights is a free educational tool and does not provide legal advice. No data is collected or stored. Information provided is for general guidance only. Consult a qualified employment attorney for advice specific to your situation.

Each paragraph is doing specific legal work.

Why thank the employer first

Why decline on the record

Why restate the original accommodations

Why reference the EEOC position

Why set a new five-day deadline

The mistakes that undo the letter.

The language invokes real regulations.

Where to go next.