ADA accommodations in interviews: how to offer, arrange and record them

Handle interview accommodations in four steps: offer one in the invitation, in the same words, to every candidate; when someone asks, ask what they need for the process rather than anything about their condition; arrange it, or agree an alternative, before the interview; and keep the reason out of the interviewers' hands and out of the scorecard. Under the ADA, a reasonable accommodation includes modifications to the application process that let a qualified applicant be considered for the job, so this is part of running a fair interview, not a favor.

Below: what the rules actually require, wording that invites a request, what to do in the first five minutes after one arrives, the common accommodations and what each takes to arrange, what you may and may not ask, how to keep it confidential, and a request log you can copy. For the invitation email itself, see interview invitation email template.

What the rules require for the hiring process itself

Three separate rules meet in an interview, and mixing them up is where most mistakes start.

• Accommodation covers the process, not only the job. 29 CFR 1630.2(o)(1)(i) defines reasonable accommodation to include modifications or adjustments to a job application process that enable a qualified applicant with a disability to be considered for the position.
• You still may not ask about disability before an offer. 42 U.S.C. § 12112(d)(2) bars pre-offer questions about whether an applicant has a disability or its nature or severity, while allowing questions about the ability to perform job-related functions.
• You may still ask about the process. The EEOC's pre-offer guidance says an employer may tell applicants what the hiring process involves and may ask whether they will need a reasonable accommodation for this process. Asking whether they would need accommodation to do the job is generally off limits before an offer, with narrow exceptions where the employer could reasonably believe an accommodation will be needed because a disability is obvious or the applicant has disclosed one.

Two more provisions matter when your process includes a test or a work sample. 29 CFR 1630.11 requires tests to be selected and administered so that results reflect what the test is meant to measure rather than an applicant's impaired sensory, manual or speaking skills, unless those are what is being measured. And the limit on all of it is undue hardship, which 1630.2(p) assesses on cost, the resources and size of the operation, the type of business and the effect on operations. For an interview accommodation, undue hardship is rarely the answer; a scheduling change usually is.

Offering it, so candidates actually ask

Most candidates do not ask. They assume it will count against them, or they do not know what the process involves well enough to know what they would need. Two things fix that: say what the process involves, and offer the accommodation line everywhere the candidate meets your process, not just in one email.

Keep the wording about the process, not the person. "If you need an accommodation for the interview" is an invitation. "Do you have a disability we should know about?" or "Will you need accommodations to do this job?" are pre-offer disability questions, and the EEOC's guidance treats them differently. More examples of the good and bad versions are in the invitation templates; the wider list of questions to avoid is in illegal interview questions.

When a request arrives

Requests rarely look official. The EEOC's guidance on reasonable accommodation says an individual may use plain English and need not mention the ADA or the phrase "reasonable accommodation", that requests do not have to be in writing, and that a family member, friend, health professional or other representative may make the request on someone's behalf. "I can't do stairs" and "is there any way to get the questions in advance?" are requests.

1. Thank them and keep it ordinary. "Thanks for telling me, that's easy to sort out."
2. Ask about the process, not the person. "What would work best for the interview?" Never "what's your condition?" or "how long have you had it?"
3. Route it to the owner. Whoever handles accommodations, usually HR. Agency recruiters route it to the client's HR contact, not to the hiring manager.
4. Agree the specifics and a deadline. What, who arranges it, and by when. If it cannot be ready, offer a new date rather than running the interview without it.
5. Confirm in writing. One short email: what was agreed, for which stage, who to contact on the day.
6. Tell interviewers only what they need to run the interview. "There will be an interpreter, allow extra time" — not the reason.
7. Move quickly. The guidance says employers should respond expeditiously and that unnecessary delays can result in a violation.

If the request is for something you cannot do, the answer is a conversation, not a refusal. The guidance describes an informal, interactive process to clarify what the person needs and find an accommodation that works, and 1630.2(o)(3) contemplates the same. You can propose an alternative that is effective, even if it is not the one first asked for.

Common interview accommodations and what each takes

The Job Accommodation Network, funded by the US Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy, publishes an employers' guide to accommodation during the hiring process and recommends lining up providers such as interpreters and alternative-format materials before you need them. The table below is a planning list, not a diagnosis list: candidates ask for what they need, and you arrange it.

What you may ask, and what you may not

Pregnancy-related limitations follow a separate law with a similar shape: the EEOC says the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act provides for reasonable accommodations for qualified applicants as well as employees with known limitations, at employers with 15 or more employees. The handling is the same: respond to what is asked for, do not ask about the pregnancy.

Keeping it confidential

An accommodation request is information about a candidate's health, and it should travel to as few people as possible.

• Interviewers get logistics, not reasons. "Extra 15 minutes, interpreter present" is all they need to run the interview well.
• Medical information stays separate. The ADA requires information from medical examinations and inquiries to be kept on separate forms, in separate medical files, and treated as a confidential medical record, and the EEOC's accommodation guidance says medical information from the interactive process should be kept confidential and stored separately from personnel files.
• Nothing about it goes in the notes or the scorecard. See what not to write in interview notes. If you must record that the process was adjusted, "process accommodation arranged, handled by HR" is enough.
• Agency recruiters do not tell the client the reason. Pass the logistics the client needs to host the interview, nothing else.
• The request is a record. 29 CFR 1602.14 names requests for reasonable accommodation among the personnel records employers must preserve, so the accommodation file has its own retention period: see how long to keep interview notes.

Video, phone and remote interviews

Remote interviews remove some barriers and add others. Practical steps, most of which help every candidate:

• Send the meeting link and the agenda at least a day ahead, so anyone using assistive technology can test it.
• Turn captions on by default, and say at the start that they are on.
• Offer a phone alternative in the invitation and treat it as equivalent. Do not score camera use.
• Describe anything you share on screen out loud, and send documents rather than only sharing them.
• Let one person speak at a time and name who is speaking on a panel, which matters for captions, interpreters and audio-only candidates.
• Have a phone number ready as a fallback and agree who calls whom if the connection fails.

More on the mechanics is in how to run a video interview.

Scoring afterwards

An accommodation changes how the interview runs, not the standard the candidate is measured against. Keep three habits:

1. Score the evidence, not the delivery. Pace, pauses, an interpreter's phrasing and typed answers are process, not competency. Interview Signal's scorecards tie each score to what the candidate actually said, which keeps the rating on the content.
2. Do not discount an answer because of how it arrived. A written answer to a question asked aloud is still the answer.
3. Judge qualification the normal way: can they perform the essential functions, with or without reasonable accommodation, to the same standard as everyone else.

A request log you can copy

Keep this with the accommodation file, not in the candidate's interview record. It exists so that requests do not get lost between a recruiter, a scheduler and a hiring manager.

INTERVIEW ACCOMMODATION REQUEST
Requisition / role:     [ ]            Stage: [screen / interview /
                                        assessment / onsite]
Request received:       [date, time]   By: [name, role]
How it arrived:         [email / call / in the interview / via a
                         representative]
What was asked for:     [in the candidate's words]
Owner:                  [HR contact]
Agreed accommodation:   [what will be provided]
Arranged by:            [name]         Confirmed with candidate: [date]
Vendor / booking ref:   [interpreter, captioner, room, equipment]
Interviewers told:      [logistics only — what, not why]
On the day:             [worked / issue and what we did]
Follow-up needed for later stages: [yes/no — what]
Store with:             accommodation file, separate from the
                        interview notes and scorecards

Checklist

• Every invitation describes the process and offers an accommodation in the same words.
• A named owner and route exists that does not go through the hiring manager.
• Interpreter, captioning and alternative-format providers are lined up before you need them.
• No questions about the disability itself, and no documentation request where the need is obvious.
• Requests are answered the same day and arranged before the interview, or the interview moves.
• Interviewers get logistics only.
• Timed exercises can be extended or re-formatted without a debate.
• Nothing about the request appears in notes, scorecards or submittals.
• The accommodation file is separate, confidential and on its own retention schedule.
• The same questions and the same standards are used for every candidate for the role.