Disability Discrimination Lawyers And The Law By Melvin Magadia At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibits private companies, state and local governments, employment agencies, and labor unions from disqualifying people with disabilities (PWDs) from seeking employment, promotion, salary increase, as well as other benefits of employment. This law applies to businesses with more than fifteen employees.
A person is considered disable if he satisfies any of the following conditions:

• a physical or mental defect that considerably limits his ability to perform some major functions

• he has a history of certain impairments or condition

Disabled individuals who can perform the important functions needed for a job in the absence or presence of reasonable accommodation are protected by the American Disabilities Act.

Reasonable accommodation can involve, but not limited to, any of the following:

• Making current infrastructure utilized by employees available to handicapped individuals

• Job modification, revision of work schedule, transferring to an open position

• Acquisition or modification of equipments or devices, moving or revising examinations, training equipments or guidelines, and training materials, or policies, and providing credible readers or interpreters

Reasonable accommodations are a necessity that should be provided to a qualified disabled applicant if it would not create “undue hardship” to jeopardize the normal operation of an employer’s business.

Undue hardship refers to “an action that requires inconvenience or cost in the face of aspects such as company size, financial capacity, and the nature and organization of operation”.

There is no need to reduce quality or output standards to implement reasonable accommodation. For example, an employer need not make personal items like glasses or hearing aids available to their employees.

Under the ADA, handicapped workers have the following benefits:

1. The ADA provides that employers need not inquire about the presence, nature, or extent of impairment. Instead, the job aspirant should be asked about their capacity to do certain job tasks. Job offers should be made upon evaluation of medical records but only if such examination is needed for aspirants in similar jobs which should be related to the job and to the needs of the company.

2. The American Disabilities Act does not provide coverage and protection to job aspirants who are under the influence of prohibited drugs if the employer reacts on the use of these substances. Tests for prohibited drugs are not covered by the ADA, thus employers may subject users of illegal drugs to the same performance criteria like other employees.

Moreover, the ADA does not tolerate employers who get back at their employees for opposing activities that discriminate disabled employees or for launching a claim, acting as witness, or taking part in an investigation, proceeding, or trial.

In 2007, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) received 17,734 cases involving disability discrimination. A year before that, 15,708 cases were solved and a total of $54.4 million worth of benefits for the defendant and other victims were awarded, excluding the money obtained from trial.

If you are being persecuted by your employer or co-employees because of your condition, you can file a complaint with the help of disability discrimination lawyers.

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