Most everyone who works in HR is aware that under the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers need to make reasonable accommodations for individuals who happen to have a disability. For example, I once had a blind co-worker who had a “reader” provided by our employer to help him with work tasks that required sight. In the world of testing, providing reasonable accommodations often involves things such as permitting extended testing time for persons with a  learning disability or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. In these and most other cases, the accommodations can be relatively simple to identify and provide.

Unfortunately, things don’t always go as planned. Here is an interesting case about a workplace accommodation for an individual who developed a food allergy to paprika. Her reaction is sufficiently severe to induce anaphylactic shock and can even be triggered by the aroma of co-workers’ food. As a safeguard, the employee obtained a service dog at her own expense that was specially trained to detect paprika. Unfortunately, upon bringing the dog to work, one of her co-workers had an asthma attack due to dog allergies. There is now a dispute with the city about how it handled the situation involving the needs of both employees.

Reid Klion