Facts About The Americans With Disabilities Act

The objective of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 is to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities in the employment sector. Applicable for employers with 15 or more employees, Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act bars private organizations, state and local governments, employment agencies and labor unions from discriminating against qualified but disabled persons in job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. The Act's nondiscrimination standards are also applicable to federal sector employees under section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act, as amended, and its implementing rules.

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, an individual with a disability is a person who has a physical or mental impairment that considerably restricts one or more key life activities; has a history of such impairment; or is regarded as having such an impairment. The ADA defines a qualified employee or applicant with a disability as a person who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the job in question. Reasonable accommodation may include among other conditions making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities; job restructuring, modifying work schedules, reassignment to a vacant position; acquiring or modifying equipment or devices, adjusting or modifying examinations, training materials, or policies, and providing qualified readers or interpreters.

An employer has to make a reasonable accommodation to the known disability of a qualified applicant or employee ensuring that it won't cause “undue hardship" on the business. Reasonable accommodations mean adjustments or modifications to enable disabled people to enjoy equal employment opportunities. Accommodations are different for different persons depending on individual conditions. Not all people with disabilities (or even all people with the same disability) may need the same accommodation.

For example, a hearing-impaired person may need a sign language interpreter during the job interview, or a diabetic employee may require regularly scheduled breaks during the workday to eat properly and monitor blood sugar and insulin levels. And, “undue hardship" caused on a business is an action that involves significant difficulty or expense when assessed in terms of factors like an employer's size, financial resources, and the nature and structure of its operation.

Title I of the Americans with Disability Act also covers medical examinations and inquiries, drug and alcohol abuse, federal tax incentives to encourage the employment of people with disabilities and to promote the accessibility of public accommodations, small business tax credit, work opportunity tax credit and architectural/transportation tax deduction.

Medical tests must be job related and consistent with the employer's business requirements. Medical records must be kept confidential, barring limited exceptions.Employees and applicants involved at present in the illegal use of drugs are not covered by the Act when an employer acts on the basis of such use. Employers may apply the same performance criteria to drug or alcohol abusers as other employees.

The Internal Revenue Code aims to make businesses more accessible to people with disabilities offering various types of tax incentives. Small businesses with revenue of not more than $1,000,000 or employing 30 or fewer full-time employees are eligible to take a tax credit of up to $5,000 a year for the cost of providing reasonable accommodations to disabled employees. The annual architectural/transportation tax deduction of up to $15,000 is available to businesses regardless of size for the costs of removing barriers for disabled people like providing accessible parking spaces, ramps and curb cuts etc.

• Emma Bullock
• 11/04/2009, 8:59 PM
• 0 Comments