HR Alert: Remote Work Requests

An Employee Asked to Work Remotely. Now What?

Remote work requests are still coming up for New York employers, and they’re not always simple.

Sometimes an employee wants to work from home because it’s easier, more convenient, or better for their schedule. Other times, the request is tied to a medical condition, disability, pregnancy, religion, domestic violence concerns, or another legally protected reason.

Those are very different situations.

For New York employers, especially small businesses without a full HR department, the key question is this:

The Reasons for the Ask

That answer matters because there’s no general legal right to work from home. But if the request is connected to a disability or another protected reason, the employer may have legal obligations under federal, New York State, or local law.

Let’s break this down in plain English.

1. If the Employee Just Prefers Remote Work, You Usually Don’t Have to Say Yes

If an employee asks to work from home because of commuting, childcare convenience, productivity, work-life balance, or personal preference, New York law generally doesn’t require the employer to approve the request.

In most cases, employers can:

• Require employees to work on-site;
• Set in-office or hybrid schedules;
• Approve some remote-work requests and deny others, if the decisions are based on legitimate business reasons; and
• Enforce attendance and workplace policies.

That said, employers still need to be consistent.

If one employee is allowed to work from home but another employee in a similar role is denied, you should be able to explain the legitimate business reason for the difference. Inconsistent decisions can create discrimination, retaliation, favoritism, or morale problems, even when the original request wasn’t legally protected.

The practical takeaway: if the request is simply a preference, evaluate it under your company’s remote-work policy and business needs.

2. If the Request Is Medical or Disability-Related, Slow Down

This is where employers need to be much more careful.

If an employee asks to work from home because of a medical condition or disability, the ask may be a request for a reasonable accommodation. It doesn’t have to include magic words. The employee doesn’t have to say “ADA” or “reasonable accommodation” for the employer’s obligations to be triggered.

Remote work may implicate several laws, including:

• The Americans with Disabilities Act, known as the ADA;
• The New York State Human Rights Law, known as the NYSHRL;
• The New York City Human Rights Law for New York City employers; and
• In some situations, the Family and Medical Leave Act, known as the FMLA.

The ADA and the NYSHRL require covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees with disabilities, unless doing so would create an undue hardship. New York law is often more protective of employees than federal law, so employers shouldn’t assume that meeting the ADA standard is always enough.

The big point is this: a disability-related, remote-work request should not be handled with a quick yes or no.

It should be handled through the interactive process.

3. What Is the Interactive Process?

The interactive process is a good-faith conversation between the employer and the employee about the employee’s limitations, the essential functions of the job, and possible accommodations.

In plain English, it means the employer should ask:

• What’s the employee requesting?
• Why is the employee requesting it?
• What job duties are affected?
• Can the employee perform the essential functions of the job remotely?
• Is full-time remote work necessary or would hybrid work solve the issue?
• Are there other reasonable accommodations that would work?
• Would the requested accommodation create an undue hardship for the business?

This process should be documented, not in a cold, robotic way, but clearly enough that the employer can later show what it considered and why it reached its decision.

For small businesses, documentation is especially important. You may not have a large HR team – or any team at all – but you still need a record showing that the request was taken seriously and evaluated individually.

4. Remote Work Can Be a Reasonable Accommodation, But It’s Not Automatic

Remote work can be a reasonable accommodation in some cases. But employers aren’t automatically required to let an employee work from home just because the employee has a disability or medical condition.

The analysis depends on the job.

Some jobs can be performed remotely with little impact on the business. Others require in-person attendance because of supervision, teamwork, customer interaction, access to equipment, confidentiality, hands-on work, or other business needs.

The employer should focus on the essential functions of the position.

Essential functions may be shown by things like:

• The written job description;
• The employer’s actual business needs;
• How much time the employee spends performing certain duties;
• Whether other employees in similar roles work on-site;
• The consequences if the duty is not performed in person;
• Past practice; and
• Whether in-person attendance is truly necessary for the job.

This is where many employers get into trouble. They say “this job must be in person” without doing the analysis. That may be true, but the employer needs to be able to explain why.

5. “We Allowed Remote Work During COVID” Doesn’t Always Decide the Issue

Many employers are still dealing with this question: “If we let employees work remotely during COVID, does that mean we have to keep allowing it now?”

Not necessarily.

Courts have recognized that emergency remote work during the pandemic doesn’t automatically mean remote work is a permanent reasonable accommodation forever.

But employers shouldn’t take too much comfort from that. The fact that an employee successfully worked remotely during the pandemic may still matter. It can be evidence that some or all of the job can be performed remotely.

That doesn’t mean the employee automatically wins. It does mean the employer should think carefully before denying the request.

The safest approach is to evaluate the current job, the current business needs, the employee’s specific limitations, and whether remote work or some other accommodation would allow the employee to perform the essential functions of the position.

6. Don’t Forget Other Accommodation Categories Under New York Law

Disability is the most common reason employers think about remote-work accommodations, but it’s not the only one.

Under the NYSHRL, employers also may have accommodation obligations involving:

• Pregnancy;
• Childbirth or related medical conditions;
• Religious practices or beliefs;
• Disability; and
• Domestic violence, stalking, or sex offense victim status.

That doesn’t mean remote work must be granted in every one of these situations. It does mean employers should pause before denying the request and consider whether a legal accommodation obligation may be involved.

7. What New York Employers Should Do When a Remote-Work Request Comes In

Here’s the practical checklist.

First, identify why the employee’s asking. Is this preference, convenience, or something tied to a protected reason?

Second, review your remote-work, attendance, and accommodation policies (do you have them?).

Third, determine whether the request may trigger the ADA, NYSHRL, NYCHRL, FMLA, or another law.

Fourth, engage in the interactive process when required.

Fifth, analyze the essential functions of the job.

Sixth, consider alternatives. Maybe full-time remote work isn’t reasonable, but a hybrid schedule, modified schedule, temporary accommodation, adjusted duties, or leave may be.

Seventh, document the process and the decision.

Eighth, be consistent. Similar requests should be handled in similar ways unless there’s a legitimate business reason for different treatment.

8. The Biggest Mistakes Employers Make

The most common mistakes we see are:

• Denying the request too quickly;
• Treating every remote-work request the same;
• Assuming remote work is never required;
• Assuming remote work is always required;
• Failing to document the interactive process;
• Forgetting that New York law may be broader than federal law; and
• Letting managers make off-the-cuff decisions without HR or legal review.

These mistakes can turn a manageable workplace issue into a discrimination, retaliation, or failure-to-accommodate claim.

The Bottom Line for Employers

You don’t have to approve every remote-work request. But you do need to know what kind of request you’re dealing with.

If it’s a preference request, apply your policy fairly and consistently.

If it’s tied to a medical condition, disability, pregnancy, religion, domestic violence concern, or another protected reason, slow down and handle it carefully.

Remote-work requests are now a regular part of managing employees. The legal risk comes from treating them casually.

Need Help Handling a Remote-Work Request?

If an employee has asked to work remotely and you’re not sure what to do next, call us before you respond.

The Coppola Firm helps New York employers, small businesses, and HR professionals handle workplace requests, accommodation issues, employee policies, and employment-law compliance.

We’ll help you figure out what the law requires, what your options are, and how to protect your business while treating your employees fairly.

Contact The Coppola Firm at info@coppolalegal.com or (716) 839-9700.

We’re your trusted legal partners, just like you, except with a law degree.