| Changes will greatly expand 'disability' in the workplace
Gives courts wide berth to interpret definition
(Oct. 9, 2008) Major changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) will affect employers for many years to come, because the revisions greatly expand what “disabled” means under the law — and severely limit how claims can be challenged.
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President Bush signed the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 into law last month, after Congress approved it with bipartisan support. The act keeps the original law’s definition of “disability,” but greatly expands how courts may interpret it.
For example, under the amendments, a disability will include any on-again, off-again medical condition an employee or job candidate may have. It will also include an illness that may be in remission but would be considered a disability if it were active.
“The question of whether an individual’s impairment is a disability under the ADA should not demand extensive analysis,” says the act, which will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2009. The ADA covers all employees and job candidates of businesses with 15 or more employees.
The new amendments:
• Prohibit considering any measures that someone would use to reduce effects of a disability, such as medications, prosthetics and medical technologies, in determining whether someone has a disability.
• Make an employer liable for disability claims if an employee proves that he or she was simply regarded in the workplace as having a disability — whether or not the employee actually had one. (The only exception is that temporary and minor conditions must exist for at least six months to qualify as a disability.)
• Require employers to make reasonable accommodations for all individuals with a disability unless doing so would create cause an undue hardship for the business. But because the standard is high, most employers will have trouble proving such a hardship.
After the ADA became law in 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a number of cases that it protected only those physical or mental impairments that substantially limited one or more major life activities. That interpretation continued over the years and allowed employers to prevail in most cases.
Some advocates increasingly argued that the courts’ rulings were too strict and urged Congress to widen the scope of the act to protect a broader class of individuals with disabilities. In this election year, Congress agreed to the new legislation.
However, with these significant changes, employers will find it harder to challenge ADA claims prior to trial. All employers should review their equal employment policies and practices to ensure that they are in compliance with the new mandates and that their managers and supervisors are well versed in the new law.
For more information, contact CBIA’s Kia Murrell at 860-244-1931 or kia.murrell@cbia.com.
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