rewrite this title Return-to-Office’s Hidden Cost: Accommodation Litigation Hits Three-Year High – UC Today

As enterprises double down on return-to-office accommodation policies, manage the structural rise in workplace mental health management demands, and grapple with the early disruption of AI workforce planning, one thing is becoming clear. The legal, operational, and strategic risks building inside today’s organizations are no longer isolated. They are converging.

For enterprise leaders, these three forces are arriving simultaneously. Organizations without the data infrastructure to respond consistently are the most exposed.

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The recent findings come from Littler’s 2026 Annual Employer Survey, completed by over 300 U.S.-based professionals across industries and company sizes. Respondents included C-suite executives, in-house lawyers, and HR leaders.

Notably, 41% of respondents came from organizations with more than 10,000 employees, giving the data particular weight for enterprise readers. Littler is regarded as a global leader in employment and labor law.

The Return-to-Office Push Has a Hidden Legal Cost

Return-to-office accommodation litigation is rising quickly.

In 2025, 50% of employers reported concern about accommodation-related legal claims. In 2026, that figure jumped to 67%. Among large enterprises, 77% now share that concern.

As pandemic-era expectations around remote work collide with RTO ambitions, employees are increasingly submitting formal accommodation requests. But the situation gets more complex.

Alexis C. Knapp, co-chair of Littler’s Leave and Accommodation Practice Group, explains:

“In managing remote work requests, many employers are finding that the challenge is not just the volume of requests, but how those requests are handled at the frontline manager level”

Knapp highlights that “it is increasingly important” for businesses to have a consistent process in place for evaluating these requests. This process should be “truly individualized” and done on a case-by-base basis that is available to managers.

Return-to-office accommodation decisions cannot be handled informally. Inconsistent responses across managers, teams, or locations create disparities that are difficult to defend.

Organizations with clear data – who requested what, how it was evaluated, and what the outcome was – are better positioned to defend their decisions.

When Mental Health Meets Workforce Operations

The accommodation challenge does not sit in isolation. It connects directly to a growing pressure on workplace mental health management.

For the third consecutive year, employers are reporting significant rises in mental health-related leave and accommodation requests. In 2026, 67% of employers saw an increase – consistent with 70% in 2025 and 74% in 2024. This is no longer a temporary spike.

Littler’s data shows 75% of employers say managing extended or open-ended absences is their top administrative challenge, while 70% struggle to ensure managers are equipped to handle requests appropriately.

Effective workplace mental health management requires more than policy tweaks. It requires changes to workforce management strategy.

For example, Littler’s Jeff Nowak highlights one course of action that forward-thinking enterprises are considering. He said:

“It’s encouraging that most employers are focusing on manager training as a critical step in effectively managing requests and minimizing litigation risk.”

Beyond training, there is a tech angle to this as well.

When a meaningful share of the workforce is on extended or intermittent leave, it affects space utilization, team coverage, and peak-day performance. Without systems to model and absorb these patterns, organizations will find long-term planning & office analytics a more challenging task.

This is where workplace mental health management stops being purely an HR conversation and becomes a workforce planning discipline.

Follow UC Today on LinkedIn for executive-level analysis on return-to-office strategy, workforce planning, and workplace governance.

AI Is Already Changing the Headcount Equation

The third pressure point is arriving from a different direction – and faster than many expected.

AI workforce planning is no longer theoretical.

According to Littler’s 2026 survey:

37% of employers have reassessed job responsibilities due to AI
20% have reduced or are reducing hiring
15% have already made workforce reductions

Littler also notes early signals that unions are beginning to raise AI displacement as a formal bargaining issue – an early signal that AI workforce planning disruption will not remain contained within HR.

While this ongoing debate continues, we can expect AI-related shifts to have a physical dimension that may go unacknowledged.

When roles change or headcount declines, office demand shifts as well – sometimes quickly. Without workplace analytics to model those transitions, organizations risk overinvesting in space that is no longer required or under-preparing for how teams will operate going forward.

The Common Thread

Across all three pressures – return-to-office accommodation risk, workplace mental health management demands, and AI workforce planning disruption – the organizations best positioned to respond share one characteristic:

They run the workplace as a system.

Data visibility, consistent processes, and integrated workforce operations are not just compliance tools. They are the infrastructure that enables defensible, scalable decisions.

In 2026, that distinction is becoming more consequential each quarter.

FAQs

What is return-to-office accommodation and why is litigation risk increasing?

Return-to-office accommodation refers to formal adjustments employers must consider for employees. For example, it can relate to disability, medical condition, or mental health diagnosis which make full in-office attendance difficult. Litigation risk is rising because blanket RTO mandates – applied without consistent, documented evaluation processes – leave employers exposed to claims of unequal treatment.

How should employers handle workplace mental health management as leave requests rise?

Effective workplace mental health management requires structured operational oversight – tracking absence patterns, equipping managers to respond consistently, and using workforce management tools to account for capacity impacts.

What does AI workforce planning mean for physical office strategy?

As AI workforce planning reshapes roles and headcount, office demand shifts as well. Organizations need workplace analytics capable of modeling workforce transitions in real time to avoid misaligned real estate investment.

How are return-to-office accommodation obligations connected to workforce management software?

Workplace and workforce management systems create documented audit trails – recording requests, evaluation steps, and outcomes – reducing legal exposure when accommodation decisions are challenged.

Is AI workforce planning increasing pressure on HR and legal teams simultaneously?

Yes. AI-driven role reassessments, hiring reductions, and workforce restructuring – combined with union scrutiny – are placing simultaneous governance pressure on HR, legal, and operations teams.

For a comprehensive framework on running the workplace as a coordinated system, explore Our Enterprise Buyer’s Guide to Workforce & Office Optimization.