Career and Learning disabilities: Your rights, responsibilities and resources

1. Career and Learning disabilities: Your rights, responsibilities and resources The Americans with Disabilities Act – ADA (Your Rights)

2. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) • The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a landmark federal law passed in 1990 that protects the rights of people with disabilities by eliminating barriers to living and working in America. • The ADA outlaws discrimination against individuals with disabilities in State and local government services, public accommodations, transportation and telecommunication.

3. ADA and Employment • This law specifically prohibits employers from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities in all employment-related activities. • All employers with 15 or more employees must comply with the ADA. • All employment activities are covered: recruitment/application processes, firing, hiring, training, job assignments, promotions, pay, benefits, lay off, leave, any other employment activities. • This part of the ADA is enforced by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

4. Who is Protected by the ADA? • If you have a disability. • If you have a history of a disability. • If you are regarded by the employer as having a disability (even if you don’t). • You must satisfy the employer’s requirements for the job and you must be able to perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodations in order to be protected by the ADA.

5. Definition of a Disability • A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity. • You must either have a record of this impairment or “be regarded as” having this impairment. • Major life activities include hearing, seeing, speaking, walking, breathing, performing manual tasks, caring for oneself, learning or working.

6. The ADA Amendment Act of 2008 • Effective January 1, 2009!! • Expands the list of major life activities to include activities not previously listed such as reading, bending, and communicating. • Major life activities list now also includes major bodily functions such as functions of the immune system, normal cell growth, digestive, bowel, bladder, neurological, brain, respiratory, circulatory, endocrine, and reproductive functions.

7. Amendment Act Continued • Mitigating measures other than ordinary eyeglasses or contact lenses shall not be considered in assessing whether an individual has a disability. • An impairment that is episodic or in remission is a disability if it would substantially limit a major life activity when active. • Directs the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to redefine the term “substantially limits.”

8. Reasonable Accommodation • Any change or adjustment to a job or work environment that permits a qualified applicant or employee with a disability to participate in the job application process, to perform the essential functions of a job, or to enjoy the benefits and privileges or employment equal to those enjoyed by employees without disabilities.

9. Reasonable Accommodations Examples • Providing or modifying equipment • Job restructuring • Part-time or modified work schedules • Reassignment to a vacant position • Modifying examinations, training materials, policies • Providing readers and interpreters • Making the workplace accessible to people with disabilities

10. Undue Hardship • An employer is required to provide reasonable accommodation to a qualified applicant or employee unless the employer can show that the accommodation would be an undue hardship (creating significant difficulty or expense). • The nature and cost of the accommodation in considered in relation to the size, resources, nature and structure of the company and is determined on a case-by-case basis. • If an accommodation is too costly for the employer, the employee can help pay for the accommodation.

11. Can an Employer Ask Questions? • If you are applying for a job, an employer cannot ask if you are disabled or about the nature of or severity of your disability. • If you are applying for a job, an employer can ask whether you can perform the duties of the job with or without reasonable accommodation. • If you are applying for a job, an employer can ask you to describe or demonstrate how you, with or without reasonable accommodation, you will perform the duties of the job • Once you have been hired and started work, your employer cannot ask questions about your disability unless they are related to your job and necessary for the performance of the company.

12. Medical Examinations • An employer cannot require you to take a medical examination before you are offered the job. • Once you’ve been offered the job, the employer can condition the offer on your passing a medical examination only if all other entering employees are required to take the same examination. • An employer cannot reject you based on information about your disability that is revealed during a medical examination unless the reasons for rejection are job related. • Once you have started the job, an employer cannot ask you to take a medical examination unless it is related to your job responsibilities. • Your employer can conduct voluntary medical examinations as part of an employee health program. • All medical examinations and results must be kept confidential.

13. How To File A Claim • Contact the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission within 180 days. • To contact your local EEOC field office call: (800) 669-4000 (Voice) or (800) 669-6820 (TDD) • You may be entitled to a particular position, hiring, promotion, reinstatement, back pay, reasonable accommodation, reassignment and/or attorney fees depending on the nature and extent of the discrimination.

14. References • The ADA: Myths and Facts www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/fact/ada.htm • The ADA: Your Employment Rights as an Individual With a Disability www.eeoc.gov/facts/ada18.html • Notice Concerning The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) Amendments Act of 2008 www1.eeoc.gov//laws/statutes/adaaa_notice.cfm