Americans with Disabilities Act ADA Your Questions Answered
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Your Questions Answered
Who does ADA protect? • This act protects qualified people with disabilities against discrimination in the workplace. • Note: “qualified people with disabilities” includes people with impairments that limit activities such as hearing or seeing, yet can still perform the essential job duties.
Who else does ADA protect? • Employees associated with people with disabilities • People with visible impairments that don’t necessarily limit their abilities. For example, an employer may not want to hire a person with a physical disfiguration because of negative customer reactions to this person. • A person who is recovering from a serious illness, such as cancer
Who is not covered by ADA? Someone with a temporary condition, such as a broken bone or a sprain.
Who has to abide by ADA? • • ADA is a law that applies to all employers and employees in the: Private sector State and local governments Employment agencies Labor unions
Does a person with a disability get preferential treatment under ADA? • No, the point of ADA is to provide equal employment opportunities to everyone, which includes fair and just treatment to those who do not have disabilities. • This also applies to attendance policies; no one employee gets more days off than the other and everyone is entitled to their specific amount of sick time.
What are the rights involved? • If a person can perform the essential functions of a job despite their disability, they have every right to be a part of the workplace. • If the disabled employee needs reasonable accommodations to complete the job, the employer should provide them.
What do you mean by “reasonable accommodations”? • Employees with disabilities are entitled to the same privileges as their co-workers and accommodations should be made to ensure this, as long as they do not interfere with the business’s finances, resources, and structure. • These accommodations include adjusting schedules, providing interpreters, rearranging furniture, and installing access equipment.
Does ADA expect businesses to go beyond their financial means to provide these accommodations? • No, these modifications must be within reason and should not be made unless the business is financially and structurally able to handle them. • Accommodations such as sign language interpreters can be substituted for by writing notes if an interpreter is not in the budget.
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