Disability

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires employers to make reasonable accommodations so that workers with disabilities can secure and retain employment.

The ADA prohibits employers from engaging in a broad range of discriminatory conduct on the basis of an employee's disability. Employers may not limit, segregate or classify jobs in such a way as to discriminate; contract or arrange with others to discriminate; utilize discriminatory standards, criteria, or methods of administration; or exclude or deny qualified individuals from jobs or benefits on the basis of disability. In addition, an employer must make "reasonable accommodations to the known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified individual with a disability." Congress might have stopped with this language and allowed employers and the courts to determine what steps reasonable accommodation required. Instead, the law provides an exception if accommodation would cause "undue hardship" to the employer's business.

The ADA therefore strikes a balance between the accommodations an employee desires to meet the job's requirements, and the investment and modifications an employer has to make to accomplish the accommodations. Reasonable accommodations under the law can include changes to the physical work environment, or to the job. Changes of the former type include making facilities accessible and usable for persons with disabilities. Such changes might include wheel chair access doors, ramps or elevators, handrails, different chairs, desks or computers, different lighting, and different configurations for furniture or machinery. Job changes include such things as restructuring the job, shortening or modifying the work schedule, transferring the employee to another vacant job, acquiring or modifying necessary equipment, and adjusting examinations, training materials or policies.

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