Americans with Disability Act of 1990
- Regulated July 1991
- Effective July 1992 for employers with 25 employees or more
- July 1994 dropped number of employees to 15 or more
ADA prohibits discrimination in
- Employment
- Transportation
- Places of public accommodation
- communication and privileges of employment
Terms
Disability is defined as a physical or mental impairment substantially limiting one or more life activities:
- Walking
- Seeing
- Hearing
- Speaking
Disable person has
- Physical or mental impairment
- Record of such an impairment
- Regarded as having an impairment
Qualified individual with a disability is an
- Individual who with or without reasonable accommodations can perform job functions of the position they hold or desire
Hidden Disabilities are often over looked and are sometimes regarded as not a disability
- Learning disabilities
- Mental Illness
- Epilepsy
- Cancer
- Arthritis
- Mental Retardation
- AIDS
- Asthma
- Traumatic Brain Injury
Accommodating hidden disabilities can help keep valued employees
Reasonable accommodations include:
- Making existing facilities available to all employees accessible to disabled persons
- Job restructuring-modified work schedule or reassignment to vacant position
- Modification or acquisition of devices or equipment
- Provision for interpreter or qualified readers
- Adjustment or modifications of examinations, training materials or policies
- All other similar accommodations
Undue Hardships is an actions requiring expense or difficulty
Factors considered in determining undue hardship are
- Nature and cost of accommodation
- Resources and size of business (larger businesses are expected to make accommodations requiring greater effort or expensive)
- Type of business
- Impact to the facility making the accommodation
- Disability Employment Policy’s Accommodation Network (JAN) is a free service which provides advice for workplace accommodations to both individuals and businesses (situations and solutions examples are in the handout)
Communication
Hearing and speech impaired can communicate through
- Writing letters
- Emails
- TTY (also known as TDD telecommunication device for the deaf) is a keyboard attached to a phone line or telephone
- TRS (Telecommunications Relay Service) helps people with a TTY converse with people without a TTY
- CA (Communication Assistant) interpreters who help the hearing and speech impaired use the telephone
- FCC (Federal Communications Commission) implemented a 711 phone number for access to TRS services
If a deaf person request an interpreter the employer must provide a qualified sigh language interpreter
- RID (Registry of Interpreter) will help businesses locate a qualified interpreter
- STS (speech to speech) is a free service that provides a CA for people with speech difficulties
Visually impaired can communicate through
- Braille
- Computers with special software
- Large print-14 point print or larger is needed
- Audiocassettes
Employers’ responsibilities
Employment provisions required by ADA are:
- Equal opportunity in selecting, testing, and hiring qualified applicants with disabilities
- Job accommodation without undue hardship to the employer
- Equal opportunity for promotions and benefits
- Employers are not required to lower quality or production standards
- Employers are not required to provide personal items such as hearing aids or eye glasses
- Employers may not ask an applicant about the existence, nature, or severity of a disability
- Medical exams are only allowed if all applicants are required to take one
- Employers require the disabled person not pose a threat to the health or safety of the other employees
- Drug and alcohol abuse are not covered under ADA
- Illegal drug users and alcoholics are held to the same performance standards as all other employees
Employing People with Disabilities
WRP (Workforce Recruitment Program for College Students with disabilities) is a free nationwide database
- Qualified candidates with wide variety of majors
- Recent graduates or post secondary students
EARN (Employment Assistance Recruiting Network) free service for employers
- Speak with an EARN staff member giving specific job vacancy information
- Staff locates qualified job ready candidates for the position
