What's he lookin' at? - Amalgamated Transit Union

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS:AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT AMENDEDThe Americans with Disability Act (ADA) Amendments Act was signedinto law on September 25, 2008, and became effective on January 1,2009. To fully grasp how the ADA Amendments Act clarified who shouldbe entitled to the law’s civil rights protections, it is important to understandwhy the ADA needed amending in the first place.WHY DID THE ADA NEED AMENDINg?The ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability inemployment. When it was passed in 1990, Congress expected that the ADAwould provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the eliminationof discrimination against individuals with a disability and provide broadcoverage. This expectation, however, was neither fulfilled by the courts nor theEqual Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) ADA regulations.The ADA defined an individual with a disability as someone who: (1) hasa physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more majorlife activities; (2) has a record of such an impairment; or (3) is regarded ashaving such an impairment.In 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court began to narrow the definition ofdisability in unexpected ways, running afoul of the intent of Congress whenit initially passed the ADA. That year, in Sutton v. United Air Lines, Inc.,the U.S. Supreme Court held that, when determining whether an individualhas a disability under the ADA, consideration must be given to the effects ofmitigating measures – such as corrective lenses, medications, hearing aids, andprosthetic devices – when deciding whether an impairment is substantiallylimiting.The Supreme Court in Sutton thus required a more restrictive view ofthat part of the definition, which in effect eliminated protections for manyindividuals whom Congress intended to protect.In another case by the U.S. Supreme Court a few years later, Toyota MotorManufacturing, Kentucky, Inc., v. Williams, the Court further narrowedthe application of the term “substantially” and reduced the broad scope ofprotection Congress intended to be afforded by the ADA.The EEOC’s ADA regulations also prompted Congress to take actionto revise the ADA – the EEOC defined the term “substantially limits” as“significantly restricted,” which was inconsistent with congressional intentas it expressed too high of a standard.PURPOsEs OF THE ADA AMENDMENTs AcTThe goal of the ADA Amendments Act is to send the message that thedefinition of disability should be construed in favor of broad coverage ofindividuals to the maximum extent permitted by the terms of the ADA. Theeffect of these changes, in other words, is to make it easier for an individualseeking protection under the ADA to establish that he or she has a disabilitywithin the meaning of the ADA.While the ADA Amendments Act retains the ADA’s basic definition of“disability,” it changes the way the statutory term should be interpreted inseveral ways. Most significantly, the ADA Amendments Act:• Eliminates the requirement that mitigating measures be consideredwhen determining whether a person meets the definition ofdisability;• Rejects the standard that the term “substantially” needs to be strictlyinterpreted because such creates a demanding standard for qualifyingas person with a disability;• Changes the definition of “regarded as” so that it no longerrequires a showing that the employer perceived the individual to besubstantially limited by a major life activity; and• Conveys Congress’ expectation that the EEOC will revise itsdefinition of “substantially limits.”DIsABILITY DIscRIMINATION & THEEqUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY cOMMIssIONThe EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegalto discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of theperson’s, among other things, disability. Although the ADA AmendmentsAct is not some revolutionary new law – it simply attempts to restore thelaw back to what Congress intended it to be when it originally passed theADA – the EEOC has taken on the task of revising its ADA regulationsand accompanying interpretive guidance in order to implement the ADAAmendments Act. The EEOC is, in fact, aiming to publish its final rule byJuly 2010. Workers should be aware that new EEOC regulations are expectedto be published this summer.With this background in mind, Congress determined that the ADAneeded to be amended.www.atu.org MAY / JUNE 2010 9