Back to Human Solutions Podcast

S6 E10: Leaves & Accommodations: The HR Playbook for Getting It Right


Podcast December 17, 2025
There is a specific moment in the life of a Human Resources professional that is fraught with a peculiar kind of tension. It happens when a door opens, an employee sits down, and they say, simply, “I need something to change.”
We like to think of the workplace as a rational machine, governed by clear inputs and outputs. But what happens when the machine encounters the messy, unpredictable reality of the human body? In this episode of Human Solutions, we explore the “messiest corner of HR”: the medical accommodation.
Host Pete Wright and AIM HR Solutions’ Terry Cook take us into the labyrinth of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It turns out, the difference between a lawsuit and a success story often hinges on things we rarely think about—the precise wording of a job description, the speed of a reply, and the strange social dynamics of an office chair.
We explore why the most dangerous thing a manager can do is try to be “nice” without a process, why “undue hardship” is much harder to prove than you think, and the uncomfortable silence HR must maintain when the rest of the staff starts asking why that guy got to work from home.
It is a conversation about the friction between compassion and compliance, and why, sometimes, the best way to help a human being is to strictly follow the rules.
In this episode, we cover:
  • The “Magic Words” Myth: Why an employee never actually has to say “disability” or “accommodation” to trigger a legal obligation.
  • The Interactive Process: Why the answer isn’t “yes” or “no,” but rather a conversation about what is safe and essential.
  • The Trap of Benevolence: How granting a request off the books can create a precedent that makes future equity impossible.
  • The Paradox of the Chair: A look at how a $1,000 ergonomic chair can disrupt the morale of an entire department—and why morale doesn’t count as an “undue hardship”.
  • The Manager’s Dilemma: How to train supervisors to handle the frustration of not being allowed to know why their employee is being treated differently.

Links & Notes

 

 

More:

August 18, 2026

S7 E7: Why Employees Ignore Their Benefits and How HR Can Help

Why offer great benefits if employees do not understand or use them? AIM HR Solutions benefits expert Mary McNally shares practical ways employers can make benefits easier to understand through plain language, year-round communication, real cost examples, and resources employees can actually find and use.

Listen
July 21, 2026

S7 E6: AI at Work: The HR Questions Companies Are Facing Now

AI is already changing how work gets done, but is your organization prepared for the risks? This episode explores the real questions HR teams are facing around privacy, employee data, workplace policies, recruiting, documentation, and the growing pressure to use AI across the business.

Listen
June 22, 2026

S7 E5: Workplace Investigations

An episode on handling workplace investigations with confidence, from deciding when to investigate to managing confidentiality, documentation, retaliation risks, and complicated complaints that may need extra support.

Listen
June 11, 2026

S7 E4: Pre-Hiring Assessments: Smarter Hiring or Hidden Risk?

Pre-hiring assessments can be useful tools, but they also carry legal risk when they are not job-related or consistently applied. This episode explores what employers should know before using physical, technical, behavioral, or AI-powered assessments in the hiring process.

Listen
April 22, 2026

S7 E3: Orientation & Onboarding

Learn the critical difference between orientation and onboarding and why confusing the two may be costing you great talent. In this episode, AIM HR Solutions experts explore how a more intentional new hire experience can improve engagement, retention, and long-term success, along with where AI can (and can’t) add value.

Listen