A workplace accommodation that worked six months—or several years—ago may not always be the right accommodation today.

Employees’ functional abilities can change. Job demands can evolve. An accommodation itself may stop working as intended. For employers, this means workplace accommodation should be viewed as an ongoing process rather than something to “set and forget.”

Accommodation Can Change Over Time

A recent SpringLaw article revisited City of Toronto v. Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 79, 2019 ONSC 4045, a case involving an employee with a disability who had worked reduced hours for years while retaining full-time status and associated benefits.

When the City eventually changed the arrangement, an arbitrator found that it could not do so without demonstrating a change in circumstances or establishing undue hardship. The Ontario Divisional Court disagreed with that approach, finding the arbitrator had applied the wrong test. As the Court stated,

“the arbitrator erred in adopting and applying this test and reached an unreasonable conclusion for a number of reasons.”

The decision did not mean the employer was free from its duty to accommodate. Rather, the focus remained on whether the employee continued to be reasonably accommodated without discrimination—not whether one particular accommodation arrangement had to remain unchanged indefinitely.

For employers, that distinction matters. Reassessing an accommodation is not the same as ending it.

When Might Reassessment Make Sense?

Accommodation works best when it reflects the employee’s current abilities and the actual demands of their work. Over time, either side of that equation can change.

An employee’s functional abilities may improve or decline. Temporary restrictions may persist longer than expected. Job duties, schedules or physical demands may change. In other cases, an accommodation that once worked well may no longer be effective for the employee or the workplace.

These changes can create a natural reason to revisit the arrangement—not with the assumption that accommodation should end, but to determine whether it still reflects the employee’s current functional abilities and workplace needs.

Start With the Question, Not the Assessment

Reassessment does not automatically mean requesting a new medical examination.

The first step is identifying what information is actually missing. Does the employer need clarification about current restrictions? Is it unclear whether certain duties can be performed safely? Has there been a meaningful change in function that existing medical information does not address?

Sometimes existing information can answer those questions. In more complex cases, updated functional or medical assessment may help clarify what the employee can safely do, what limitations remain, whether restrictions are temporary or permanent, and how those abilities relate to current job demands.

Accommodation Is an Ongoing Process

Revisiting workplace accommodation should not become a routine exercise in asking employees to repeatedly prove their disability. It should have a purpose.

When circumstances genuinely change or important functional questions remain unanswered, reassessment can help ensure decisions are based on current information rather than assumptions or outdated restrictions.

The goal is not necessarily to maintain the same accommodation forever—or to change it simply because time has passed. It is to understand whether the arrangement still works and, when it does not, what information is needed to determine the next appropriate step.