24.9.606    FAILURE TO MAKE REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION--EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION BECAUSE OF A DISABILITY

(1) It is an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer, agent of an employer, employment agency, or labor organization to:

(a) fail to make reasonable accommodations to the known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified employee, employment applicant, or union member with a disability; or

(b) deny equal employment opportunities to a person with a physical or mental disability because of the need to make a reasonable accommodation.

(2) A person with a physical or mental disability is qualified to hold an employment position if the person can perform the essential functions of the job with or without a reasonable accommodation for the person's physical or mental disability.

(3) "Reasonable accommodation" to a person with a physical or mental disability for the purposes of enabling the person to perform the essential functions of an employment position may include:

(a) making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible to and usable by individuals with physical or mental disabilities; and

(b) job restructuring, part-time or modified work schedules, reassignment to vacant positions which the employee is qualified to hold, acquisition or modification of equipment or devices, appropriate adjustment or modifications of examinations or training materials or policies, the provision of qualified readers or interpreters, and other similar accommodations for individuals with physical or mental disabilities.

(4) An accommodation to a person with a physical or mental disability for the purpose of enabling the person to perform the essential functions of an employment position is reasonable unless it would impose an undue hardship upon the employer.

(5) For purposes of determining whether an accommodation to a physical or mental disability is reasonable, "undue hardship" means an action requiring significant difficulty or extraordinary cost when considered in light of:

(a) the nature and expense of the accommodation needed;

(b) the overall financial resources of the facility or facilities involved in the provision of the accommodation, the number of persons employed at the facility, the effect on expenses and resources of the facility, and other impacts of the accommodation on the operation of the facility;

(c) the overall financial resources of the business, the overall size of the business of the employer with respect to the number of employees, and the number and type and location of the facilities of the employer; and

(d) the type of operation or operations of the employer, including composition, structure, and functions of the work force of the employer, and the geographic separateness and administrative or fiscal relationship of the facility or facilities in question to the employer.

(6) An accommodation to a person with a physical or mental disability for the purpose of enabling the person to perform the essential functions of an employment position is not reasonable if it would endanger the health or safety of any person.

(7) If an employer defends an adverse employment action against a person with a physical or mental disability on the grounds that an accommodation would endanger the health or safety of a person, the employer's failure to independently assess whether the accommodation would create a reasonable probability of substantial harm will create a disputable presumption that the employer's justification is a pretext for discrimination on the basis of disability.

History: 49-2-204, 49-3-106, MCA; IMP, 49-2-101, 49-3-101, 49-3-202, MCA; NEW, 1996 MAR p. 2871, Eff. 10/25/96; AMD, 2017 MAR p. 91, Eff. 1/7/17.