ADA Accommodation Requests

Remote Work as an ADA Accommodation

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: Request for Remote Work as a Reasonable Accommodation

Dear [HR Contact Name],

I am writing to request remote work as a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. I can perform all essential functions of my job as [Your Job Title]. My request is for a change in where I work, not a change in what I do. Please consider this a request to begin the interactive process.

The challenge I am managing is that my condition is triggered or worsened by specific features of the on-site environment, including [unpredictable loud sounds / dense foot traffic in shared hallways / an open-plan layout / shared transportation / interactions with a specific individual]. These do not affect my ability to do the work itself. They affect whether I can stay on-site for the full work day without symptoms reaching a level that interferes with my focus.

I am requesting full-time remote work, with on-site attendance only for pre-scheduled events such as [quarterly team summits / equipment calibration / in-person client meetings]. I will commit to:

1. Being reachable during all normal working hours.
2. Meeting the same deliverables on the same timelines as on-site peers.
3. Attending all standing meetings by video.

My doctor or therapist supports this accommodation and is willing to provide a letter describing my functional limitations. If full-time remote work is not feasible, I am open to a 90-day trial, a hybrid schedule, or reassignment to a similar role that is structured as remote.

Please confirm receipt and propose a meeting within ten business days.

Thank you,

[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.

Before you edit it

Keep these lines.

Change the tone, the names, and the details to fit your situation. These particular sentences are doing the legal work, and the letter gets weaker without them.

I can perform all essential functions of my job as [Your Job Title]. My request is for a change in where I work, not a change in what I do.
The second sentence is the whole strategy. Employers defend remote-work denials by arguing that on-site presence is itself an essential function. Separating the location from the duties forces them to explain why the place is essential rather than assuming it.
These do not affect my ability to do the work itself. They affect whether I can stay on-site for the full work day without symptoms reaching a level that interferes with my focus.
Keeps the focus on a specific environmental barrier rather than a general preference. Accommodation requests succeed when they identify what in the workplace creates the problem, because that is what an accommodation removes.
If full-time remote work is not feasible, I am open to a 90-day trial, a hybrid schedule, or reassignment to a similar role that is structured as remote.
Offering alternatives is what keeps the process alive. A trial period is particularly hard to refuse, because it costs the employer little and undercuts the argument that remote work is untested in your role.

When to use this letter

You have a mental health condition with identifiable triggers in your workplace (crowding, unpredictable noise, specific people, the commute). Working remotely would remove those triggers and let you do your job reliably. Your doctor or therapist supports the request.

Remote work is a recognized reasonable accommodation under EEOC guidance when it lets a qualified employee with a disability perform essential functions. The case is often strongest when you can name specific environmental triggers tied to the workplace, not the work itself.

The letter below establishes that you can do the job, names the workplace features that interfere with doing it on-site, and offers concrete commitments so your employer has a clean way to say yes. It also offers a trial period and alternatives if full-time remote is not feasible.

How to send it

Email to HR. If you have documentation of the specific on-site conditions you are describing, reference it but do not attach medical records to the initial request.

Why the letter is written this way

Each paragraph is doing specific legal work.

01
Why say 'environmental change, not a change in my duties'
Employers often conflate accommodation with reduced performance expectations. Framing remote work as a change to the environment, not to the work, narrows the employer's grounds for objection. The essential functions stay the same; only where you do them changes.
02
Why name specific triggers
Generic 'I have a condition' is insufficient to tie the accommodation to the job. Specific environmental triggers (unpredictable sound, dense foot traffic, a specific individual) create a bridge between the disability and the workplace, which is what the ADA requires.
03
Why offer measurable commitments
Employers fear loss of control and loss of visibility. The three commitments (availability, deliverables, meetings) give the employer a way to say yes without feeling like they are giving up oversight. They also create clear evidence of your willingness to perform if the employer later argues you were not engaged.
04
Why offer alternatives if full remote is not feasible
Under 29 C.F.R. § 1630.9, employers can pick among effective accommodations. Offering a trial, a hybrid schedule, or reassignment in the same letter prevents the employer from offering ineffective alternatives as a stalling tactic and shows good-faith engagement.
05
Why propose a 90-day trial
A trial period is a concession that often makes yes easier for the employer. It also creates a performance track record that makes permanent remote work harder to deny later. If your performance is comparable, the trial defeats the 'cannot supervise remote workers' objection.

Don't do this

The mistakes that undo the letter.

01Describing the underlying medical event or trigger in detail. You never have to. 'Condition' and 'functional limitation' do all the work.
02Asking only for full-time remote and not offering alternatives. A letter with only one option invites a binary denial.
03Leaving out the specific environmental triggers. Without the tie to the workplace, you are asking for remote work as a general preference, not as a disability accommodation.
04Naming a coworker or supervisor as a trigger in writing without separately filing a harassment or retaliation complaint through the proper channel. That should go to EEO or HR-compliance separately.
05Agreeing to 'try it informally.' Informal remote arrangements can be terminated without the interactive process, which defeats the purpose of the ADA route.
06Waiting until the employer announces a return-to-office mandate to ask. Preemptive accommodation requests made before a mandate are cleaner than reactive ones.

What happens next

The replies you should expect.

You are told the role requires on-site presence: Ask, in writing, which essential functions require physical presence and why. A general policy preference is not the same as an essential function, and the answer either gives you something concrete to accommodate around or shows there was nothing behind the refusal.
You are offered a private office or a quieter floor instead: That may genuinely work, and refusing it outright weakens your position. Evaluate it against the specific triggers you named. If it addresses some but not all, say which remain in writing.
You are asked to justify why remote work is medically necessary: Have your provider describe the functional limitations and why the on-site environment aggravates them. The provider does not need to prescribe remote work by name, and a letter about function is harder to second-guess than one that reads as a demand.
A trial is approved with no end date or success criteria: Ask for both in writing. Undefined trials end at the employer's convenience, and without agreed criteria there is no way to show the arrangement worked.

Legal authorities cited

The language invokes real regulations.

42 U.S.C. § 12111(8): Qualified individual
42 U.S.C. § 12112(d)(3)(B): Medical confidentiality
29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(o)(3): Interactive process
29 C.F.R. § 1630.9: Effective accommodations
29 C.F.R. § 1630.14(c): Medical documentation
EEOC, Work at Home/Telework as a Reasonable Accommodation (Oct. 27, 2005, updated Mar. 21, 2022): EEOC fact sheet on telework as reasonable accommodation

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.

Keep these lines.

Each paragraph is doing specific legal work.

Why say 'environmental change, not a change in my duties'

Why name specific triggers

Why offer measurable commitments

Why offer alternatives if full remote is not feasible

Why propose a 90-day trial

The mistakes that undo the letter.

The replies you should expect.

The language invokes real regulations.

Where to go next.