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Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA, PL 101-336) provides important protections and opportunities for people with disabilities, including hearing, speech, and language disabilities. This law applies to employers with fifteen (15) or more employees. Protection applies to state and local governments, private employers, employment agencies, and labor unions. Discrimination against qualified people with disabilities in federal employment and in private businesses contracting with the federal government was already prohibited by sections 501 and 503, respectively, of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act (PL 93-112).
What the ADA does
- The ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in all employment practices including job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, and training. In addition, the ADA protects other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment such as recruitment, advertising, tenure, layoff, leave, and fringe benefits.
- The ADA requires that employers make reasonable accommodation . A reasonable accommodation can be any modification or adjustment to a job or work environment that will enable an employee with a disability to perform essential job functions. Essential job functions involve those duties and assignments that an employee is actually required to perform, where its omission would fundamentally change the job and where no other employee can provide this function. Reasonable accommodations may include use of a text telephone (TTY), amplified telephone, notetaker, augmentative or alternative communication device, or the services of a sign language interpreter. Restructuring a job (redistributing marginal functions of jobs), modifying work schedules, providing flexible leave policies, and adapting training materials are other means of reasonable accommodation. Accommodations also may be necessary for the employee to enjoy other employee activities and benefits, for example, holding office parties in an accessible location. The employer must also make reasonable accommodation for job applicants during the interview process.
- ADA protects the employee/applicant from expenses associated with providing a reasonable accommodation. For example, the use of the services of a sign language interpreter cannot be billed to the employee. Nor can the employee's salary be reduced to cover these costs.
- The ADA prohibits employers from asking questions about the nature or severity of the person's disability on the application form or during the interview. The employer can ask applicants how they would perform certain tasks (with or without an accommodation). A medical evaluation may also be required as part of a conditional job offer but only if all job applicants are asked to do so. Questions regarding how attendance might be affected by a disability may not be asked. However, an employer may provide information on regular work hours, leave policies, and special attendance needs, and ask if the applicant can meet these requirements.
What the ADA does not do
- The ADA does not require an employer to give special attention or consideration to the applications of those with a disability. Job applicants must still meet all of the employer's requirements in terms of education, previous experience, skills, and licenses.
- The ADA does not obligate an employer to provide a reasonable accommodation that will result in undue hardship (requiring significant difficulty; disruption to work schedules, environment, etc; and/or expense) or will fundamentally alter the business.
- The ADA does not require the employer to provide a personally prescribed device such as a hearing aid or eyeglasses. However, providing such a device may be the most cost-effective accommodation in some cases.
- The ADA does not obligate the employer to hire a job applicant whose communication disability poses a direct threat to the health or safety of that person or others. For example, if an individual with a hearing loss is unable to hear an essential alarm/alert device and no accommodation is appropriate, the employer is not obligated to hire this job applicant.
If you think that you have been discriminated against in employment on the basis of your communication disability or if you want further information about ADA requirements affecting employment, contact:
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
1801 L Street, NW
Washington, DC 20507
(800) 669-3362 (voice)
(800) 800-3302 (TT)
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