The ADAAA made it much easier for employees to sue for a “regarded as” disability. Brief No. To address this, Congress passed the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) in 2008, clarifying various aspects of the law and emphasizing that the definition of disability should be interpreted broadly. Disability under ADAAA: Under ADAAA, a disability is defined as a physical or mental impairment that limits one or more major life activities. EMPLOYMENT Legal Briefings . 39 In reaching this conclusion, however, the Connecticut court cited Sutton v. United Air Lines, Inc., 40 and applied to the plaintiff's claims pre-ADAAA law requiring a strict standard for disability. For employers, the primary consequence is that far more people fall within the definition of having a disability under the ADA. Is Addiction a Disability Under the ADAAA? The ADAAA redefines and dramatically expands the scope of coverage under the "regarded as" prong of the definition of "disability." To help make it easier to determine whether someone has a disability under the ADA, in its ADAAA regulations the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) provided examples of impairments that should be easily found to substantially limit a major life activity: Deafness substantially limits hearing. The ADAAA contains numerous “Rules of Construction” to assist courts in their analysis of the definition of disability. The District Court held that high blood pressure was not a disability under the ADA and ADAAA and dismissed his case. The fact that her back pain and attendant lifting restrictions are a result of pregnancy is irrelevant not only under the PDA, but also under the new statutory scheme created by the ADAAA. However, instead of providing a list of presumed disabilities, the new ADAAA regulations link certain conditions to the individual’s limitation to a major life activity. If you are asking a health care provider to complete a medical certification to assess reasonable accommodations under the ADAAA, it is helpful to provide a copy of the job description with the certification form for the health care provider to review. The ADAAA tells us that disability is meant to be understood broadly and to apply to many people. The ADAAA became effective on January 1, 2009. 42 U.S.C. October 16, 2020 More Americans are taking drugs, both legal and illegal. The employee brought an action under the ADAAA alleging that he was terminated as a result of a disability. 42 U.S.C. (This is the first prong of the definition of disability.) A temporary impairment caused by an injury may be a covered “disability” under the ADA Amendments Act if it's “sufficiently severe” to substantially limit a major life activity, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled Jan. 23 (Summers v. Altarum Inst., Corp., 4th Cir., No. Major life activities include basic activities that the average person can do with little or no difficulty, such as standing, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, learning, taking care of oneself, and so on. As a result, individuals with LD should have an easier time qualifying for accommodations in school, work and/or for testing. Four interactive steps to aid compliance The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recommends employers engage in a four-step interactive discussion with the employee to identify barriers and appropriate solutions. Reversing a district court's dismissal of an ADA… Under the 1990 version of the ADA, it was difficult for an employee to prevail on a “regarded as” claim, because the employer must have wrongly believed that the employee was “substantially limited” in a major life activity (like walking or working). The ADAAA represents an important step by Congress to return to the original spirit and intent of the ADA to protect those with disabilities from discrimination. In March 2011, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) issued regulations interpreting the new ADAAA. Blindness substantially limits seeing. The U.S. The ADAAA and the final regulations define a disability using a three-pronged approach: ... for that reason, a person with a disability under the ADA. Third, you can have a disability under the ADA if you are “regarded as having such an impairment.” An individual satisfies this definition if the individual establishes that he/she has been discriminated against because of an actual or perceived physical or mental impairment. Under the ADAAA, Congress directed that the term "disability" be construed "in favor of broad coverage of individuals under this chapter, to the maximum extent permitted by [its] terms." The Fourth Circuit disagreed. Under the ADAAA, an impairment that is episodic or in remission (for example, cancer) will be considered a disability if, when active, it would substantially limit a major life activity. The EEOC regulations adopted following the enactment of the ADAAA clarified that the duration of impairment is just one factor in determining whether the impairment substantially limits a major life … § 12102(3)(B). The ADAAA was adopted for the purpose of "reinstating a broad scope of protection to be available under the ADA. The ADAAA makes important changes to the definition of the term "disability," clarifying and broadening that definition -- and therefore the number and types of persons who are protected under the ADA and other Federal disability nondiscrimination laws. (ADAAA – House Version) S. 3406 (ADAAA – as passed) Scope of the Definition of Disability: In General The ADA defines a “disability,” in part, as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity of an individual. An employee may be considered disabled if he or she exhibits a disability, has a record of such impairment or would be perceived as having such impairment. qualifying disability under the ADA, then the same must be true for a pregnant woman suffering from back pain that requires her to request a lifting restriction. However, the definition of “disability” under the ADAAA remains unchanged from the original Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The Department recognizes that the definition of "disability" under the IDEA is different than that under the ADA. The ADAAA made several changes to the definition of disability under the ADA. The ADAAA tells us that the Supreme Court misunderstood the intention of the ADA for how substantially limits should be understood. It was designed to strike a balance between employer and employee interests. Until now, the courts have routinely rejected general obesity as a “disability” under the ADA and Rehabilitation Act. Under the ADA Amendments Act, withdrawing an offer of employment based on information obtained during a medical inquiry will likely result in a finding that the applicant is “perceived as” having a disability. I have heard that ADAAA applies to Work Comp but not all Work Comp applies to ADAAA. 13-1645, 1/23/14). . The district court below dismissed the employee’s claim reasoning that a temporary condition lasting one year or less does not qualify as a disability. §12102(3). First, the increase in the availability and use of opioid pain relievers has led to the United States’ entrenchment in an opioid epidemic. Therefore, it is absolutely critical that an employer consider the consequences under the ADA in all cases where a conditional job offer is withdrawn based on medical information. The idea here seems to be that not all medical conditions that qualify someone for Workers’ Comp are disabilities under the ADA. January 1, 2009, the ADAAA directly overturned several seminal decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court.2 The ADAAA sent an unmistakable message to the courts that the concept of disability is to be broadly construed. To satisfy the "regarded as" standard an individual need only show that he or she has been subjected to an action prohibited under the statute (e.g., termination; failure to hire) because of an actual or perceived impairment. EEOC now claims obesity is a disability under ADAAA. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) now claims obesity is a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA). Under the ADA, a disability is a physical or mental impairment (including a learning disability) that substantially limits one or more major life activities. Note that in the years following the ADA's passage, some courts had narrowed the definition of disability under the ADA. The ADAAA provided that an impairment which was “transitory and minor,” i.e., of “an actual or expected duration of six months or less,” would not be considered as a disability under the “ regarded as ” definition of a disability. By Robert J. O’Hara and Anastasia A. Regne, Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. The ADAAA requires a broader interpretation of disability by schools, testing agencies and employers than the original law. lies in determining what constitutes a disability under the ADAAA and what accommodations are “reasonable” under the law. Under the new regulations, the EEOC still requires an expansive definition of disability in the workplace. However, the ADAAA and the regulations do allow even individuals with fully corrected vision to challenge uncorrected vision standards that exclude them from jobs. It cautions employers that most employees will not require extensive analysis to determine if they have a disability. Before Congress took action, court rulings had severally limited the definition of disability in such a way that few qualified for protection under the Act. Would you outline the cases where ADAAA doesn’t apply to Work Comp? In determining that this temporary injury qualified as a disability under the ADAAA, the Fourth Circuit specifically held that: The amended Act provides that the definition of disability shall be construed in favor of broad coverage of individuals under this chapter, to the maximum extent permitted by its terms . In Rumbin, the court determined that an individual's vision problems were not a disability under the ADA or ADAAA for purposes of medical school admission testing. The ADAAA expanded the definition of “disability” under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and created a greater responsibility for employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. . The ADAAA’s stated purpose was to reinstate a “broad scope of protection” under the Act by expanding the definition of the term “disability.” To do so, the ADAAA overturned several U.S. Supreme Court decisions and ushered in a new era under … How does the ADAAA define disability?