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.
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 Slovakian Anti-discrimination Act explicitly stipulates the obligation of reasonable accommodation for disabled only in the field of employment. However, 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.
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.
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.
According to the Slovakian law, adherence to the principle of equal treatment shall also rest in adoption of measures for the protection against discrimination. Hence, the obligation to provide reasonable accommodation should apply not only to employers and persons with disabilities in the area of employment but to all other areas and grounds regulated by the existing anti-discrimination law. However, legislation or case law provide no guidance on how this obligation is supposed to be fulfilled.