Psychiatric Accommodation Disputes Under the ADA and New York Law: What the Forensic Opinion Can and Cannot Decide

Stephan M. Carlson, MD, MBA, FAPA · Employment and Fitness

An accommodation dispute turns on a question a clinician cannot answer alone: can this employee perform the essential functions of the job, with or without a reasonable accommodation, without posing a direct threat? The psychiatric opinion supplies the functional half of that equation; the strongest reports never reach past it to the legal conclusion. The standard these disputes actually apply Federal and New York law converge on a structure but not on its edges. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the protected employee is a "qualified individual"—one who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the position (42 U.S.C. § 12111[8]). The New Yor

Most relevant service: Expert Witness IME