There are certain situations in employment or in access to goods and services, including housing, where an employer or a goods or service provider has a duty to provide reasonable accommodation for disabled people. Also, in France it is forbidden to subject a vulnerable or dependent person to working or living conditions that are incompatible with human dignity.
Reasonable accommodation includes adjustments at a workplace or training place, or the place where the goods are sold, or services are provided, that allow a person with disability to perform the tasks required or have access to goods and services. Reasonable accommodation can include an accessible workspace, specially adapted equipment, a reserved parking space, making changes to the working hours, etc.
The obligation to provide for reasonable accommodation may also be established in legal acts regulating other fields beyond non-discrimination. For example, there are requirements to ensure an accessible environment for new buildings under construction laws. The failure to do so may result in discrimination against persons wishing to access those buildings. According to French law, public spaces and buildings that are open to the public (shops, hotels, restaurants, public services, cultural places, hospitals etc.) should be accessible to everyone, including people with all types of disability. The same rule applies to residential buildings and premises used for professional purposes.
The failure to provide reasonable accommodation or an accessible environment may amount to discrimination on the grounds of disability, provided that the adjustments do not pose a disproportionate burden to the other party. Indeed, new buildings are obliged to be built in a way that allows access for everyone, and already-existing facilities should be made accessible to disabled persons. However, there are 3 main exceptions which allow an existing building to remain non-accessible:
- Technical impossibility (due to the characteristics of the site or the presence of other buildings)
- Restrictions linked to heritage conservation
- Cost of works disproportionate to the improvements brought about by making the building accessible
example If a large company refused to install an elevator adjusted for disabled people, it would be considered as a failure to provide reasonable accommodation. However, discrimination would not occur, if a small enterprise was not able to install such an elevator due to technical or financial difficulties.