Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Federal statute (42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq.) prohibiting discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities. Title I covers employment, applies to employers with 15+ employees. Requires reasonable accommodation of qualified individuals' disabilities unless undue hardship. The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 substantially broadened the disability definition. The interactive process is central. In the Fifth Circuit, an employer's failure to engage in it in good faith violates the ADA when it leads to a failure to reasonably accommodate.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a comprehensive federal civil rights statute prohibiting discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities. The ADA covers employment (Title I), state and local government (Title II), public accommodations (Title III), telecommunications (Title IV), and miscellaneous provisions (Title V). For commercial employers, Title I, employment, is the principal concern. The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA) substantially broadened the definition of disability, reversing earlier Supreme Court decisions that had narrowed coverage.
"Disability" under the ADAAA
The ADA defines disability as: (1) a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; (2) a record of such impairment; (3) being regarded as having such impairment. The ADAAA (2008) substantially broadened "disability" by: (1) requiring courts to construe "disability" broadly in favor of coverage; (2) overruling cases that excluded conditions controllable by mitigating measures (medication, prosthetics); (3) clarifying that "regarded as" claims do not require limitation of major life activity, although that prong excludes transitory and minor impairments and does not entitle the individual to reasonable accommodation; (4) listing major life activities expansively (caring for self, walking, hearing, seeing, learning, concentrating, working, etc.). After the ADAAA, disability is easier to establish, and many disputes turn instead on reasonable accommodation and whether the individual is qualified.
Qualified individual
ADA protection requires the individual to be "qualified", meaning the individual: (1) satisfies the requisite skill, experience, education, and other job-related requirements; (2) can perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation. "Essential functions", those fundamental to the position, not merely marginal, are determined by employer's judgment, written job description, time spent on functions, consequences of not requiring performance, work experience of past incumbents. Distinguishing essential from marginal functions is critical to ADA analysis; reasonable accommodations need only enable performance of essential functions.
Reasonable accommodation
The ADA requires employers to make "reasonable accommodation" of qualified individuals' disabilities unless doing so would impose "undue hardship." Common accommodations: (1) job restructuring, modifying non-essential duties; (2) modified work schedules, flexible hours, part-time, telework; (3) physical modifications, accessible workspace, assistive equipment; (4) reassignment to vacant position; (5) leave for medical treatment or recovery; (6) auxiliary aids and services, interpreters, readers, assistive technology. The accommodation must be "reasonable" but not necessarily the employee's first choice or most preferred option.
The interactive process
EEOC regulations describe an "interactive process" (29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(o)(3)), an informal, individualized dialogue between employer and employee to identify accommodation needs and options. The process typically: (1) employee notice, employee notifies employer of need (medical certification often required); (2) information exchange, employer obtains needed medical information about limitations and accommodation needs; (3) accommodation identification, discussion of possible accommodations; (4) implementation; (5) monitoring and adjustment. The Fifth Circuit treats the process as a means to reaching a reasonable accommodation. An employer whose unwillingness to engage in good faith leads to a failure to reasonably accommodate violates the ADA, and a breakdown in the process without that result is generally not a separate violation.
Undue hardship
Employers can refuse otherwise reasonable accommodations that would impose "undue hardship", significant difficulty or expense considering: (1) cost of accommodation; (2) overall financial resources of employer; (3) size of facility/employer; (4) type of operations; (5) impact on operations. Because hardship is measured against the employer's overall resources and size, the same cost may be an undue hardship for a small employer and not for a large one. Direct threat to safety can also justify denial of accommodation, but requires individualized assessment, not stereotypes about disability.
Pre-employment medical inquiries
The ADA imposes specific limitations on medical inquiries: (1) pre-offer, no medical inquiries permitted; only inquiries about ability to perform job functions; (2) post-offer/pre-employment, comprehensive medical inquiries permitted if required of all entering employees in the same job category; offer can be conditioned on medical exam; (3) post-employment, medical inquiries only when "job-related and consistent with business necessity."
Damages and remedies
ADA Title I damages parallel Title VII: (1) back pay and front pay; (2) compensatory damages for emotional distress; (3) punitive damages where the employer acted with malice or reckless indifference to federally protected rights (not available against government employers); (4) injunctive relief; (5) attorney's fees. Compensatory and punitive damages are subject to combined caps under the Civil Rights Act of 1991: $50K (15-100 employees), $100K (101-200), $200K (201-500), $300K (more than 500). In accommodation cases, compensatory and punitive damages are not available if the employer shows good-faith efforts, in consultation with the employee, to identify and make a reasonable accommodation (42 U.S.C. § 1981a(a)(3)).
ADA disputes involving Texas employers often turn on the record: a job description written before the position was advertised is evidence of its essential functions, and the exchanges between employer and employee show whether an accommodation was explored. Requests for leave or modified schedules can also fall under the FMLA, which has separate rules. Before a job offer, an employer may ask only about the applicant's ability to perform job-related functions. A charge under Title I must be filed with the EEOC within 300 days in Texas, and a parallel TCHRA complaint within 180 days (Tex. Lab. Code § 21.202).
Companion article: Before Firing an Employee