Disability Law Commons^™

Beyond Title Vii: Litigating Harassment By Nonemployees Under The Ada And Adea, Kate Bradley

Washington Law Review

Employees in the United States are protected from unlawful harassment that rises to the level of a “hostile work environment.” Federal circuits recognize that employers could be liable under Title VII when their employees experience hostile work environments because of harassment from nonemployees. However, outside of Title VII, not all federal circuits have recognized that the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) protect employees from hostile work environments.

As a result, employees are vulnerable with respect to age and disability-based harassment. This Comment argues that all federal circuits should allow …

Without Accommodation, Jennifer Bennett Shinall

Indiana Law Journal

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), workers with disabilities have the legal right to reasonable workplace accommodations provided by employers. Because this legal right is unique to disabled workers, these workers could, in theory, enjoy greater access to the types of accommodations that are desirable to all workers—including the ability to work from home, to work flexible hours, and to take leave. This Article compares access to these accommodations, which have become increasingly desirable during the COVID-19 pandemic, between disabled workers and nondisabled workers. Using 2017–2018 data from the American Time Use Survey’s Leave and Job Flexibilities Module, I …

Transparency And Reliance In Antidiscrimination Law, Steven L. Willborn

Catholic University Law Review

All antidiscrimination laws have two structural features – transparency and reliance – that are important, even central, to their design, but have gone largely unnoticed. On transparency, some laws, like the recent salary-ban laws, attempt to prevent the employer from learning about the disfavored factor on the theory that an employer cannot rely on an unknown factor. Other laws require publication of the disfavored factor, such as salary, on the theory that it is harder to discriminate in the sunlight. Still other laws are somewhere between these two extremes. The Americans with Disabilities Act, for example, limits but does not …

Maternity Rights: A Comparative View Of Mexico And The United States, Roberto Rosas

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Women play a large role in the workplace and require additional protection during pregnancy, childbirth, and while raising children. This article compares how Mexico and the United States have approached the issue of maternity rights and benefits. First, Mexico provides eighty-four days of paid leave to mothers, while the United States provides unpaid leave for up to twelve weeks. Second, Mexico allows two thirty-minute breaks a day for breastfeeding, while the United States allows a reasonable amount of time per day to breastfeed. Third, Mexico provides childcare to most federal employees, while the United States provides daycares to a small …

Accommodating Absence: Medical Leave As An Ada Reasonable Accommodation, Sean P. Mulloy

Michigan Law Review

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is widely regarded as one of the most significant pieces of civil rights legislation in American history. Among its requirements, Title I of the ADA prohibits employers from discriminating against people with disabilities and requires that employers make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals. Many questions about the scope of the reasonable-accommodation mandate remain, however, as federal circuit courts disagree over whether extended medical leave may be considered a reasonable accommodation and whether an employee on leave is a qualified individual. This Note argues that courts should presume finite unpaid medical leaves of absence are …

Special Treatment Stigma After The Ada Amendments Act, Nicole Buonocore Porter

Pepperdine Law Review

This article explores a unique source of stigma suffered by individuals with disabilities in the workplace. Instead of focusing on those with the most stigmatizing disabilities, I focus on those individuals who have disabilities that are not perceived as very severe, yet they still suffer stigma. These individuals are stigmatized because of the special treatment they receive (or are perceived as receiving) through workplace accommodations provided pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In prior work, I have called this phenomenon “special treatment stigma,” the harm that arises from receiving special treatment in the workplace, especially when co-workers believe …

Towards Reasonable: The Rise Of State Pregnancy Accommodation Laws, Stephanie A. Pisko

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

In light of the recent Supreme Court decision Young v. UPS, pregnancy accommodation in the workplace is once again at the forefront of employment law. Pregnancy is not considered a disability under the ADA, nor is it within the scope of Title VII protections, but states are passing their own pregnancy accommodation laws. These laws will affect employers and employees alike, but exactly how is uncertain. Perhaps the most natural (and obvious) result of the explosion of state pregnancy accommodation laws will be a federal law, or an amendment to the ADA categorizing pregnancy as a disability. But there …

There's No Place Like Work: How Modern Technology Is Changing The Judiciary's Approach To Work-At-Home Arrangements As An Ada Accommodation, Benjamin D. Johnson

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Disability-Employability Divide: Bottlenecks To Equal Opprotunity, Bradley A. Areheart, Michael Ashley Stein

Michigan Law Review

Equal opportunity might appear to comprise a relatively simple question: Do similarly situated persons have an equal chance to attain a particular goal, or do obstacles irrelevant to their qualifications or to the desired goal preclude achievement? But equal opportunity is complicated.1 There are descriptive and prescriptive dimensions to this question. Nuances exist when determining who is similarly situated, whether those individuals have the same opportunity, what goals we care about equalizing, and whether the ultimate aspiration is equality of opportunity or equality of outcome. Moreover, what means should we employ to remove obstacles, are these means likely to be …

Designing A Flexible World For The Many: "Essential Functions" And Title I Of The Americans With Disabilities Act, Michael J. Powers

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note explores how courts interpret the meaning of “essential functions” under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To be protected under the ADA, a plaintiff must be able to perform the “essential functions” of her job with or without a reasonable accommodation. In general, courts follow one of two approaches when interpreting this phrase. The first approach narrowly focuses on the employer’s judgment regarding which functions are essential. The second approach considers the employer’s judgment, but looks beyond to consider the broader employment relationship. This Note argues that these different approaches have led to varying levels of …

Practical Tips For Employers For Compliance With The Ada , Patrick L. Clancy

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

"It's Not You, It's Me" - When Are Client Companies Liable For Staffing Firms' Discriminatory Hiring Practices?, Lara Samuels

American University Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Medicating The Ada - Sutton V. United Airlines, Inc.: Considering Mitigating Measures To Define Disability, Ian D. Thompson

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

I'M So Lonesome I Could Cry ... But Could I Sue?: Whether 'Interacting With Others' Is A Major Life Activity Under The Ada, Bryan P. Stephenson

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Disability History Mystery: Assessing The Employer's Reasonable Accommodation Obligation In "Record Of Disability" Cases, Michael D. Moberly

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mitigation And The Americans With Disabilities Act, Jill Elaine Hasday

Michigan Law Review

It is an open question whether the prohibition on employment discrimination in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects plaintiffs who have not attempted to mitigate the effect of their disability on their ability to work. Suppose, for example, that a job applicant has severely impaired vision because of a corneal disease. He can have corneal transplant surgery that his doctors recommend and expect will allow him to see much more clearly, but he does not want to have the surgery because of the complications sometimes associated with the operation and the possibility that the surgery will not work. He …

Reasonable Accommodation Under The Ada: Are Employers Required To Participate In The Interactive Process? The Courts Say "Yes" But The Law Says "No", John R. Autry

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") generally requires employers to "reasonably accommodate" a "qualified" employee's disability. Unfortunately, the ADA is silent as to the appropriate method for fashioning reasonable accommodations. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") issued regulations endorsing an "interactive process" by which an employer and its "qualified" disabled employee work together to devise the proper accommodation. However, the Supreme Court has yet to determine whether courts must defer to these regulations, leaving the circuit courts of appeals to issue differing opinions on whether the EEOC's interactive process is best characterized as a requirement or merely a suggestion.

Thus, …

Employment Law: Reasonable Accomodation Under The Americans With Disabilities Act Vs. Employee Seniority Rights: Understanding The Real Conflict In U.S. Airways V. Barnett, Blake Sonne

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Crazy (Mental Illness Under The Ada), Jane Byeff Korn

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article examines how people with mental disabilities and mental illnesses have been treated under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Part I addresses the history of mental illness. It argues that while beliefs about the causes and content of mental illness have vacillated over time, the mentally ill have received consistently poor treatment throughout human history. Part II addresses present problems with the definition of mental illness, including how mental illness and mental disability are defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Part III discusses the problems faced by people with mental illness today. The author argues the current state …

The Latex Allergy Crisis: Proposing A Healthy Solution To The Dilemma Facing The Medical Community, Lynn Cherne-Breckner

Journal of Law and Health

The explosion in the number and severity of latex allergies began with the emergence of the AIDS epidemic as the Centers for Disease Control issued universal precautions advising health care workers to use protective barriers to prevent the spread of the infection. This resulted in constant use of the gloves by medical workers and a great increase in demand for cost effective gloves. Essentially, the quality of the glove making process decreased, increasing the amount of allergy inducing proteins excreted to wearers. Afflicted workers include physicians, nurses, dentists, dental hygienists, operating room personnel, laboratory technicians and ambulance attendants among others. …

Envisioning A Future For Age And Disability Discrimination Claims, Alison Barnes

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article considers the reasons for reinterpretations of age and disability and examines the fundamental reasons for changes in the implementation of both the ADA and ADEA. Part I presents the basic structure and relevant requirements of the two statutes and comments on the reasons their legislative purposes are not often seen as overlapping. Part II discusses the recent Supreme Court decisions that have undermined the purposes and implementation of both the ADA and ADEA and chilled causes of action based on the ADA and ADEA. Part III projects the current problems with anti-discrimination causes into the future, when older …

The Americans With Disabilities Act And Collective Bargaining Agreements: Reasonable Accommodations Or Irreconcilable Conflicts?, Mary K. O'Melveny

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Americans With Disabilities Act: Dispelling The Myths. A Practical Guide To Eeoc's Voodoo Civil Rights And Wrongs, Charles D. Goldman

University of Richmond Law Review

The time is at hand for reality to replace expectation as the employment provisions of the federal mandate not to discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities, the Americans with Disabilities Act (the "ADA"), are now the law of the land. A new era of rights, responsibilities, and opportunities dawned for private and governmental employers, and disabled persons when the rules of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") went into effect on July 26, 1992. A practical, common sense utilization of institutional solutions complemented by individualized applications, not ad hoc reactions, is essential. Other- wise employers' worst fears will …