Case: [2011] NZCA 20
In the second stage, the issue of reasonable accommodation comes into play, and your employer gets the chance to argue that the changes needed for you to do your job would have been unreasonable.
Your employer has to show that for you to do your job, it would take the kind of special arrangements that would be unreasonable to expect an employer to make – this is the “reasonable accommodation” point. There are two different exceptions that the employer can use to show that the necessary accommodations are “unreasonable”:
Unreasonable special facilities or services: Your employer could prove that you’d need special facilities or services (like special equipment or special assistance) that it would be unreasonable to expect the employer to provide. However, your employer can’t use this exception if they could just get another employee to do the particular tasks that are in issue, without any unreasonable disruptions.
Risk: Your employer could show that because of your impairment you’d present an “unreasonable risk” to yourself or others. An unreasonable risk means more than just a minor risk, and your employer has to prove that it would cause unreasonable disruption to reduce this risk to usual levels. But again, as well as proving the “unreasonable” aspect here, the employer can’t use this exception if another employee could do the tasks.