Disability Discrimination
Your guide to disability discrimination in the workplace, employee protections, and employer compliance requirements
The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits employers from discriminating against employees and applicants with disabilities who are qualified for job positions, and requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for otherwise qualified employees and applicants with known limitations. Bloomberg Law has the legal content and tools you need to stay on top of the dynamic field of labor and employment law.
Stay ahead of disability discrimination developments
Bloomberg Law has the legal research tools and analysis you need to practice smarter, faster, and better. Provide sound counsel to your clients or stakeholders on labor and employment law with the latest news and analysis, Practical Guidance, and more.
What is the importance of the Americans with Disabilities Act?
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the primary federal employment discrimination law that protects individuals from disability discrimination in the workplace, which is supplemented by a patchwork of additional state and local anti-discrimination laws.
The ADA doesn’t invalidate or limit other labor and employment (L&E) law remedies, rights, and procedures that provide greater or equal protection of the rights of people with disabilities. Therefore, employers should carefully consider how other discrimination laws interact with the ADA to provide employees, former employees, and applicants protections beyond what the ADA provides.
The ADA prohibits employers with 15 or more employees from discriminating against employees and applicants with disabilities who are qualified for the jobs they seek or hold. More specifically, employers are prohibited from discriminating against applicants with disabilities in hiring decisions and against employees with disabilities in decisions related to:
- Termination
- Wages
- Training
- Fringe benefits
- Any other term, condition, or aspect of employment
Employers also cannot limit, segregate, or classify employees or applicants with disabilities in any way that adversely affects their job opportunities or status as employees or applicants.
What is a reasonable accommodation?
Under the ADA, employers must make reasonable accommodations for the known physical and mental limitations of employees and applicants with disabilities who are qualified for job positions unless the accommodations create undue hardship.
Reasonable accommodations are employer modifications to:
- Job application processes for qualified applicants with disabilities to enable them to be considered for jobs
- Work environments for employees with disabilities who are qualified that allow them to perform the essential functions of the job they seek or hold
- Benefits and privileges of employment for employees with disabilities who are qualified to enable them to enjoy such benefits and privileges as other similarly situated employees without disabilities
Is working from home or teleworking considered a reasonable accommodation under the ADA?
Yes. Working from home or teleworking may be a reasonable accommodation under the ADA unless an employer shows that another accommodation is effective or telework creates undue hardship.
What is considered an undue hardship under the ADA?
Undue hardships are accommodations requiring significant difficulty or expense considering several factors, including the nature and cost of the accommodation in relation to the size, resources, nature, and structure of the business.
When assessing whether an accommodation would constitute an undue hardship, employers should consider the nature and cost of the accommodation as well as their available financial resources and the accommodation’s impact on the employer’s facility.
What is the process for complying with ADA accommodation requests?
When an employee or applicant requests a workplace accommodation for a disability, it triggers an interactive process for the employer to evaluate and respond to the request. Employers are required to respond “expeditiously” to the request.
Before addressing the merits of the accommodation request, the employer may need to determine if the employee’s medical condition meets the ADA definition of a “disability.” Once it’s confirmed that the medical condition is recognized by the ADA as a disability, the employee and employer engage in an informal process to clarify what the employee needs and identify the appropriate reasonable accommodation.
The employer may need to ask questions about the nature of the disability and the individual’s functional limitations to identify an effective accommodation. This may include asking the employee what they specifically need or want as an accommodation or asking for reasonable documentation about the disability and functional limitations.
Once the disability and possible effective accommodations are understood, an employer is required to act promptly, by doing one of the following:
- Provide the requested accommodation to the employee
- Provide an alternative effective accommodation to the employee
- Deny the employee’s request for an accommodation because it would cause an undue hardship
Once a decision is made and an employer acts on the accommodation request, the employer should continue to engage with the employee to determine if a new or alternative accommodation is needed, or if the accommodation is no longer needed at all.
This flowchart covers the interactive process that is required when a reasonable accommodation is needed by an employee under the ADA. Download the flowchart to view the larger image.
Reasonable accommodation interactive process
Do states have disability discrimination laws?
Most states have their own laws that generally prohibit disability discrimination and require employers to provide reasonable accommodations. However, some states define disability more broadly than federal law or include or exclude specific accommodations. Employers must comply with all the laws that apply to them. When there is a difference between federal and state disability discrimination laws and compliance requirements, employers need to be sure that their decisions comply with both laws.
State law is only preempted when there is a direct conflict, which is rare in this space.
A smarter, faster approach to labor and employment law compliance
As employers and employees continue to adjust to a post-pandemic reality, the potential for more high-risk labor and employment law litigation is rising as the landscape continues to shift. Stay ahead of developments in employment discrimination laws and compliance with expert analysis, comprehensive coverage, news, and practice tools from Bloomberg Law.
See it for yourself. Request a demo to get the legal research tools and analysis you need to practice smarter, faster, and better.