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Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Update

Written by: Allison Grace

Article Overview: Summary of changes to the Americans with Disabilites Act that require employer action.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Update

The ADA Amendments Act went into effect on January 1, 2009, expanding the list of conditions that are considered disabilities. The ADA protects people with impairments that substantially limit a major life activity who can perform the essential functions of a job with or without reasonable accommodation. The ADA Amendments Act was passed to correct judicial decisions which limited ADA coverage by testing disabilities taking mitigating factors (drugs, hearing aids, etc.) into account and measuring disabilities by their impact on activities of daily living. As a result of these changes, the Act now includes in its definition of protected disabilities any impairment of the operation of a major bodily function including those which do not impact on the ability to perform a particular job.

Specifically, the ADA Amendments Act prohibit employers from considering the effects of mitigating measures such as hearing aids, medication, prosthetic devices, etc., when determining whether someone has a disability. Eyeglasses and contact lenses may still be taken into account. The list of major life activities includes caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, working and the operation of major bodily functions, such as functions of the immune system, normal cell growth and digestive, bowel, bladder, neurological, brain, respiratory, circulatory, endocrine and reproductive functions.

The law covers workers whose employers discriminate against them based on a perception that the worker is impaired, regardless of whether the worker has a disability. This protection does not apply to persons with short-term impairments. The ADA provides broad coverage to protect anyone who faces discrimination on the basis of a disability.

Many plaintiffs who could not get a jury trial in the past will now be able to appeal to juries and win reinstatement, back pay, front pay and punitive damages if they can prove discrimination on the basis of their present or past real or perceived disabilities. Because these amendments will make it easier to bring disability discrimination claims and harder for employers to defeat those claims, employers should take the following steps to protect themselves:

Review and update employment policies regarding disabilities and reasonable accommodations. If your policy is lengthy and detailed including definitions of what consistutes a disability, consult with legal counsel or a Human Resources professional about what changes may be necessary.

Keep accurate records of when an employee requests an accommodation, and the accommodations provided and/or denied, along with written documentation for the decisions that are made.

Review and update practices regarding discussions with employees who request accommodation to ensure compliance with the updated regulations.

Train managers on ADA’s requirements with regard to handling requests for accommodation and the company’s obligation to reasonably accommodate an employee’s disability.

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Article Tags: aids medication, amendments, bladder, bodily functions, contact lenses, determining whether someone, endocrine, eyeglasses, functions of the immune system, hearing aids, judicial decisions, juries, jury trial, manual tasks, mitigating factors, plaintiffs, prosthetic devices, reasonable accommodation, reinstatement, reproductive functions



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