Disability Discrimination / Accommodations
Prior to 1990, persons with disabilities had no legal recourse if they were denied a job or terminated
because of their disability. Finally, in 1990 the United States Congress took note of this unfairness,
explaining that millions of disabled Americans had no legal recourse even though they “continually
encounter various forms of discrimination, including outright intentional exclusion, . . . overprotective
rules and policies, . . . exclusionary qualification standards and criteria, segregation, and relegation to
lesser services, programs, activities benefits, jobs, or other opportunities.”
As a result of these recognized problems, Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act
(“ADA”) in order to eliminate discrimination against individuals with disabilities. In essence, the ADA
was deigned to provide a legal avenue for persons with disabilities to bring a lawsuit if a potential
employer refuses to hire the individual, or terminates him or her based on the disability. In addition,
the ADA requires employers to potentially provide accommodations to qualified persons with
disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position.
However, the ADA became one of the most difficult laws to interpret in the history of jurisprudence, and as a result in 2009 Congress passed a law that assisted in the interpretation process. These problems were mostly due to the requirement that an individual must be considered both seriously disabled,
and capable of performing all the essential functions of the job, with or without accommodations. This means that the ADA did not protect persons that had certain short-term illnesses or minor physical
or mental shortcomings. However, the ADA does protect persons with major disabilities that cannot, with
reasonable accommodations, perform the important tasks of the particular job being sought. Thus,
many persons are excluded from protection under the ADA.
If you believe that you have a serious impairment that qualifies as disability under the ADA, and you
feel you have been discriminated against or denied a reasonable accommodation, please fill out and
send the discrimination e-mail form. If you are a company that has been wrongfully accused of committing a
discriminatory act related to the ADA, please fill out and send our other email contact form. We
would be happy to review your matter, and contact you about your potential options. PLEASE DO
NOT DELAY, as this may prevent you from being able to assert your legal rights.