Americans with Disabilities Act: Employment in the United States
Americans with Disabilities Act: Employment
Title I of the ADA prohibits private employers, state and local governments, employment agencies, and labor unions with 15 or more employees from discriminating against otherwise-qualified people with disabilities. (The ADA also applies to the legislative branch of the federal government, including Congress and legislative agencies; other branches of the federal government prohibit discrimination of people with disabilities through the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.) Employers must not discriminate in job application procedures; the hiring, advancement, or discharge of employees; employee compensation; job training; and any other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. An otherwise-qualified individual with a disability is someone who meets the requirements for skill, experience, education, and other conditions needed for the position and who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the job.
Reasonable accommodation in employment consists of a variety of modifications or adjustments. These include (1) modifying a job application procedure so that a qualified applicant with a disability can be considered for the position, (2) changing the work environment, or the way the work is customarily performed, to permit someone with a disability to fulfill the job’s essential functions, and (3) enabling an employee with a disability to enjoy the same benefits of employment as employees without disabilities – for example, ensuring that the company parking garage accommodates employees who use wheelchairs. Employers must provide reasonable accommodations unless they would create an undue hardship – meaning providing the accommodations would impose significant difficulty or expense on the employer. (1)
In this Section: Americans with Disabilities Act, Americans with Disabilities Act Provisions, Americans with Disabilities Act: Employment, Americans with Disabilities Act: Public Services, Americans with Disabilities Act: Public Accommodation, Americans with Disabilities Act: Telecommunications, Americans with Disabilities Act History and Americans with Disabilities Act Supreme Court Decisions.