EEOC Votes to Revise Rules to Conform to ADA Amendments Act
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Wednesday, June 24, 2009 |
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The
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) voted to revise its
regulations to conform to changes made by the ADA Amendments Act
(ADAAA) of 2008, which would make it easier for an individual seeking
protection under the ADA to establish that he or she has a disability.
The
Commission voted 2-1 to adopt the rules changes, at a public meeting
this morning at the agency's Washington headquarters. The five-member
body has two vacancies.
The rules changes approved represent an
initial stage in the regulatory process and must next go to the Office
of Management and Budget for review, and to federal agencies pursuant
to Executive Order 12067, without public comment.
"In approving
these proposed regulations, the EEOC today is taking a significant step
toward returning the ADA to the broad and strong civil rights statute
that Congress originally intended it to be," said EEOC Acting Chairman
Stuart J. Ishimaru. "The proposed regulations will permit individuals
with disabilities to participate to the fullest extent possible in the
American workplace."
Acting EEOC Vice Chair Christine M. Griffin
said, "Today's vote is historic. These regulations will serve to shift
the focus of the courts from further narrowing the definition of
disability and putting it back to where Congress intended when the ADA
was enacted in 1990. Courts should now focus on whether discrimination
based on disability is occurring in the workplace. The protections
afforded by the ADA AA and these new regulations are important for all
workers including our returning wounded warriors who certainly deserve
the right to re-enter a workforce free of discrimination."
The
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), an antidiscrimination statute,
was signed into law in July 1990. The EEOC is responsible for enforcing
Title I of the ADA, which prohibits employment discrimination against
individuals with disabilities. The statute requires employers to make
reasonable accommodations to employees and job applicants with
disabilities defined as people with mental or physical impairments that
substantially limit a major life activity, persons with a record of a
disability, or who, while not actually disabled, are regarded as
disabled.
The ADA Amendments Act, which went into effect Jan. 1,
2009, makes important changes to the definition of the term
"disability" by rejecting the holdings in several Supreme Court
decisions and portions of EEOC's prior ADA regulations. The effect of
these changes is to make it easier for an individual seeking protection
under the ADA to establish that he or she has a disability as defined
by the ADA. The ADAAA emphasizes that the definition of disability
should be construed in favor of broad coverage of individuals to the
maximum extent permitted by the terms of the ADA and generally shall
not require extensive analysis.
The ADAAA also states that
Congress expects the EEOC to revise its regulations to conform to
changes made by Act, and expressly authorizes the EEOC to do so.
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