An employee with a disability requests an accommodation that would fundamentally alter the nature of the business or impose significant difficulty and expense. The employer:

Explanation

Government Code §12940(m)(1) requires reasonable accommodation only up to undue hardship, which §12926(u) defines as significant difficulty or expense measured against the employer's size, resources and operations - so the specific request may be refused. What cannot be refused is the process: §12940(n) requires the employer to continue looking for an alternative effective accommodation, and stopping at the first refusal is itself a separate violation. (b) reads the duty as absolute. (d) treats the request as insubordination, which is straightforward disability retaliation. (c) states the consequence the undue-hardship limit exists to prevent, and it is the fear that drives employers to (d).