Wrist Injury: Reasonable Accommodation

Records that may help include restrictions, workstation information, time records, ergonomic requests, productivity records, and manager messages. Focus on functional restrictions, essential job duties, requested changes, available equipment or schedules, and the employer's interactive-process response.

Keep complete records rather than excerpts. Preserve dates, attachments, original filenames, and surrounding messages so the sequence can be evaluated accurately. Personal notes can supplement the record, but they should distinguish direct observations from later conclusions.

This resource focuses on an employment question arising when a wrist injury affects typing, scanning, assembly, lifting, or repetitive motion. An injury may qualify as a disability when it substantially limits a major life activity, including when the limitation is episodic or expected to last for a meaningful period. A covered employer may need to consider effective accommodations that allow a qualified worker to perform essential duties.

The practical inquiry is fact specific. It may include who made the decision, what they knew, whether a policy was applied consistently, and how the stated reason compares with contemporaneous records.

Describe the work limitation and proposed change in writing without disclosing more medical detail than is reasonably needed. Keep the timeline factual and include both helpful and unhelpful information so a reviewer can understand the whole sequence.

Avoid altering source documents. Save copies outside an employer-controlled account when lawful, but do not take privileged material, trade secrets, client records, or information an employee is not permitted to possess. Because deadlines vary, consider a timely employment-law review.

A closer review may be appropriate when the employer denies a minor ergonomic change or punishes the worker for medically limited speed. An employer does not have to remove an essential duty or accept an undue hardship, but it should not rely on stereotypes or a blanket full-duty rule.

A concerning sequence does not by itself establish a legal violation. Legitimate business reasons, eligibility rules, essential duties, employer size, and jurisdiction can change the analysis.