Disability discrimination
Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibits employers from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities in job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment.
An employer is required to make a reasonable accommodation to the known disability of a qualified applicant or employee if it would not impose an "undue hardship" on the operation of the employer's business. Employers may not ask job applicants about the existence, nature, or severity of a disability.
Reasonable accommodation may include, but is not limited to:
- 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 is not required to lower quality or production standards to make an accommodation; nor is an employer obligated to provide personal use items such as glasses or hearing aids.
It is also unlawful to retaliate against an individual for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on disability or for filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in an investigation, proceeding, or litigation under the ADA .
Statistics
In Fiscal Year 2005, EEOC received 14,893 charges of disability discrimination. EEOC resolved 15,357 disability discrimination charges in FY 2005 and recovered $44.8 million in monetary benefits for charging parties and other aggrieved individuals (not including monetary benefits obtained through litigation).
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