The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 prohibits employment discrimination against qualified disabled individuals. It prohibits employers with 15 or more workers from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities, with regard to hiring, discharge, compensation, advancement, training, or other terms of employment. It also says employers must make reasonable accommodations for physical or mental limitations unless doing so imposes an undue hardship on the business.

The ADA does not list specific disabilities. Instead, EEOC guidelines say someone is disabled when they have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. The act specifies conditions that it does not regard as disabilities, including homosexuality, compulsive gambling, pyromania, and certain disorders resulting from the current illegal use of drugs. Mental disabilities account for the greatest number of ADA claims. Under EEOC ADA guidelines, mental impairment includes any mental or psychological disorder, such as emotional or mental illness.

The guidelines say employers should be alert to the possibility that traits normally regarded as undesirable may reflect mental impairments. Reasonable accommodation might then include providing barriers between work spaces. The individual must have the requisite skills, educational, and experience. A job function is essential when it is the reason the position exists, or it is so specialized that the employer hires the person to perform that particular function.

If the individual can’t perform the job as currently structured, the employer must make a reasonable accommodation unless doing so would present an undue hardship. Reasonable accommodation might include redesigning the job, modifying work schedules, or modifying or acquiring equipment or other devices; widening door openings or permitting telecommuting are examples. The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA) made it easier for employees to show that their disabilities are influencing one of their major life activities, such as reading and thinking. Common employer concerns about people with disabilities are generally baseless.

свернуть