Live Webinar

Religious and Disability Accommodations: Avoiding Costly Process Failures

  • Tuesday, January 19, 2027
  • 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EST
  • 60 Minutes
4.5 / 5 994 ratings of this speaker
CE credits
  • 1.00 ATAHR (Aurora HR)
  • 1.00 HRCI (Human Resource Certification Institute)
  • 1.00 SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management)

What You'll Learn

Accommodation requests are often mishandled because supervisors overlook informal requests, ask for unnecessary information, delay responses, or apply the wrong legal standard. Religious accommodations under Title VII and disability accommodations under the ADA require individualized review, but their documentation considerations and undue-hardship standards differ. Understanding these distinctions is essential to managing requests consistently and reducing avoidable legal and employee-relations risks.
  1. The federal legal framework: EEOC enforcement, Title VII, the ADA/ADAAA, Department of Labor leave requirements including the FMLA, and Section 503 obligations for covered federal contractors.
  2. Recognizing requests and understanding the differences between religious and disability accommodations.
  3. Interactive-process responsibilities, appropriate questions, documentation considerations, and timely communication.
  4. Evaluating accommodation options and applying the correct undue-hardship analysis.
  5. Managing overlapping accommodation, leave, attendance, return-to-work, and safety issues.
  6. Protecting confidential information and documenting decisions.
  7. Common process failures that contribute to disputes, EEOC charges, and avoidable legal expense.
View Full Description

Join Wendy Sellers, The HR Lady®, for a practical webinar on recognizing accommodation requests, engaging in timely dialogue, and evaluating reasonable options. Explore how workplace accommodations intersect with attendance policies, medical leave, return-to-work requirements, safety concerns, and federal-contractor obligations. You will learn a repeatable approach to communicating respectfully, considering alternatives, and documenting defensible decisions while avoiding common process failures that can lead to EEOC charges, disputes, and costly litigation.

Your Benefits For Attending:
  • Recognize religious and disability accommodation requests, even when employees do not use legal terms or submit formal paperwork.
  • Understand key concepts, including reasonable accommodation, qualified individual, essential job functions, sincerely held religious belief, and undue hardship.
  • Learn how to conduct a prompt, good-faith interactive dialogue, involve the appropriate people, and ask relevant questions.
  • Identify when documentation may be requested and how to avoid unnecessary information requests or delays.
  • Explore common religious and disability accommodations and practical approaches to evaluating alternatives.
  • Distinguish between the undue-hardship standards under Title VII and the ADA.
  • Coordinate accommodation requests with attendance policies, medical leave, return-to-work requirements, safety concerns, and the FMLA.
  • Strengthen confidentiality, documentation, consistent treatment, and anti-retaliation practices.

Leave with greater confidence in handling sensitive accommodation conversations and evaluating next steps. You will be better prepared to respond promptly and respectfully while reducing uncertainty and avoiding preventable process mistakes.

Who Should Attend:

HR professionals at all levels; supervisors, managers, and team leaders; recruiters; operations professionals; legal, compliance, and risk management personnel; CEOs, COOs, and CFOs; and representatives of HR and management associations.

Meet Your Speaker

Wendy Sellers

Wendy Sellers, MHR, MHA, SHRM-SCP, SPHR has 25 years of experience in HR, change management, operations, strategy, corporate culture, and leadership development in all size businesses (local startup to global enterprise) in a wide variety of industries including healthcare, professional services,...

View Full Bio of Wendy Sellers

What Attendees Are Saying

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CE Credits

These are the continuing education credits available to you for this webinar.

  • 1.00 ATAHR Aurora HR Aurora Training Advantage is offering continuing education points designed to recognize dedication to training and excellence in human resources.
  • 1.00 HRCI Human Resource Certification Institute Browse HRCI-approved webinars and earn recertification credits online. Live and on-demand HR training for PHR, SPHR, and GPHR recertification. Expert-led sessions from Aurora Training Advantage.
  • 1.00 SHRM Society for Human Resource Management Aurora Training Advantage is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for the SHRM-CPSM or SHRM-SCPSM. For more information about certification or recertification, please visit www.shrmcertification.org.