The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is intended to make life easier for people with disabilities. It doesn’t always go that way–immediately after the law went into effect, employment for disabled individuals dropped. Companies were scared they would have to provide expensive accommodations.
Don’t be scared about the accommodations–the law requires that they be reasonable. (You don’t have to create a quiet space for your disco’s bartender with migraines.) Be worried instead about being sued.
ADA lawsuits are on the rise–with more than ten times the lawsuits of 10 years ago in some places. While many of these are about building structures and shelf placement, you need to be worried about employment cases as well. Here’s how you can protect your business against ADA lawsuits from employees and job candidates.
To keep reading, click here: ADA Lawsuits Are on the Rise. Here’s How to Avoid Employee Suits
Very good advice. My Agency had one of those no-overtime-for-people-on-light-duty policies. A class action lawsuit was filed. Years later, it’s still going on, and the amount of time, money, effort and other resources expended in the process is astronomical and continuing to grow.
Yes, all of this! So many employers (and people in general) have this pervasive attitude that disabled people are lazy or we’re somehow trying to “game the system.” Or they think making an accommodation will be super disruptive. It doesn’t have to be. Working from home is an accommodation that allows more severely disabled people to actually earn a living. The pandemic has shown it can be done successfuly in many jobs, even in the middle of a global existential crisis (!), so there’s really no excuse to stick with the butt-in-seat mentality in jobs where it’s not necessary.
The ADA’s intention is to make some aspects of life more accessible to those with disabilities, not make their life objectively easier.