How Employers Stall the Interactive Process 

How Employers Stall the Interactive Process 

Receiving disability accommodations at work begins with an interactive process that requires open communication between employees and employers. This collaboration ensures that requests are understood and that necessary adjustments are made to support workplace success. However, when communication breaks down and employees are left waiting for updates, frustration and uncertainty can quickly set in. Without warning, you may even be fired after requesting your accommodation.

If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. Many former employees have lived through this exact sequence of events. What feels like a bureaucratic delay is often something far more calculated. Employers who drag out the interactive process without good reason may be violating both California and federal law. The Law Offices of Jeannette A. Vaccaro PC represents former employees who were wrongfully terminated after experiencing exactly this kind of delay.

We help you understand your options when your former employer stalled the interactive process and fired you for requesting accommodations:

• Employers are legally required to engage in a timely, good-faith interactive process under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA).
• Stalling this process is a recognized tactic used to avoid granting accommodations or to build a paper trail that justifies termination.
• Unreasonable delays can constitute a separate legal violation, independent of the failure to provide accommodations.
• Former employees who were fired after their accommodation request was ignored or delayed may have valid legal claims.

What Does the Interactive Process Actually Require?

The interactive process is the two-way dialogue that must take place between an employer and an employee once a disability accommodation request is made. Under the ADA (42 U.S.C. § 12111) and California’s FEHA (Gov. Code § 12940(n)), employers have a legal duty to engage in this process in good faith.

This means employers must:

• Respond to accommodation requests in a timely manner.
• Request any medical documentation that is reasonably necessary.
• Identify the essential functions of the job alongside the employee.
• Explore all possible accommodations that would allow the employee to perform those functions.
• Follow up to assess whether any implemented accommodation is working.

The process is not a single email or a checkbox exercise. It is an ongoing, substantive dialogue. An employer who acknowledges a request but never moves the conversation forward is not complying with the law.

What Tactics Do Employers Use to Delay the Interactive Process?

Delay rarely looks like refusal. That is what makes it so difficult to recognize while it is happening. Common delay tactics include:

• Vague assurances: Responding with phrases like “we’re working on it” or “we’ll try” without committing to any action or timeline.
• Repeated requests for documentation: Asking for the same medical information multiple times with no apparent purpose.
• Scheduling endless meetings: Holding follow-up calls or meetings that never produce a decision or concrete next step.
• Redirecting to leave: Suggesting the employee take medical or FMLA leave instead of actually evaluating an accommodation.
• Going silent: Allowing emails and requests to go unanswered for weeks or months.

Each of these tactics keeps the accommodation request technically “open” while ensuring nothing changes. The employee continues working without support, and the employer continues to watch.

How Does Stalling Affect a Former Employee’s Rights?

This is where the harm becomes most visible. Prolonged delay does not just cause frustration. It shifts the dynamics of the situation in ways that directly harm employees.

When an accommodation is not provided, an employee may struggle to meet performance expectations. Performance issues then appear on the record. By the time termination occurs, the employer is not citing the unresolved accommodation request. Instead, the employer points to the performance problems that developed while the employee was waiting. That framing is deliberate.

For former employees, this matters enormously. If you were fired shortly after submitting an accommodation request, or after weeks of being told your request was “under review,” the timing itself may be significant evidence. Under FEHA and the ADA, firing an employee who has requested a disability accommodation raises serious legal questions about whether the termination was retaliatory or discriminatory.

When Does a Delay Become Unlawful?

Not every delay rises to the level of a legal violation. Reasonable time may be needed to gather documentation or consult with HR. However, a delay becomes unlawful when:

• There is no legitimate justification for the length of the delay.
• The employer uses the delay to build a performance record that justifies termination.
• The delay results in the employee’s resignation due to intolerable working conditions.
• The accommodation request is never resolved before the employee is terminated.
• The employer uses leave as a substitute for actually evaluating an accommodation.

Under FEHA, the failure to engage in the interactive process is a standalone legal violation, separate from the failure to provide a reasonable accommodation. An employer does not have to outright deny a request to be held liable. Dragging out the process indefinitely can be just as unlawful.

Your Rights as a Former Employee Do Not Expire with Your Job

Losing your job is painful. When that loss follows a disability accommodation request that was never properly addressed, it can also be illegal. California law provides strong protections for employees who were wrongfully terminated in connection with a disability or an accommodation request, and those protections extend to former employees pursuing legal claims.

At the Law Offices of Jeannette A. Vaccaro PC, our founding attorney has dedicated her career to representing employees facing discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination, and she approaches each case with the depth of attention it deserves. If you were fired after your employer stalled or ignored your accommodation request, contact us for a case evaluation. Your rights are worth protecting.