On March 25, 2011, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued its Final Regulations on how employers should interpret the 2008 amendments to the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). These regulations become effective in May, 2011.
Specifically, the regulations reflect the view that the courts became overly restrictive in determining whether an individual with an impairment actually is covered under the law. The EEOC now endorses a more expansive view of the ADA’s reach and places the focus more on the employer’s compliance with their non-discrimination and accommodation obligations. To that end, the regulations and the EEOC’s comments that accompany them provide various important “rules of construction.” For example:
- The regulations provide that the definition of “disability” shall be interpreted broadly;
- In order to be “substantially limited”, the regulations state that an individual need not be “significantly” or “severely” restricted in a major life. The individual need only be limited in a major life activity compared to most people in the general population. The definition of “substantially limits” is not meant to be a demanding standard.
- The EEOC has offered an expanded definition of “major life activities” through two non-exhaustive lists;
- The regulations provide that mitigating measures other than “ordinary eyeglasses or contact lenses” shall not be considered in assessing whether an individual has a “disability”. For example, an impairment will still be a disability even if it is controlled with medication;
- An impairment that is episodic or in remission is now a disability if it would substantially limit a major life activity when active;
- The definition of “regarded as” now simply requires a showing that the employer perceived the individual to be substantially limited in a major life activity, that an applicant or employee who is subjected to an action prohibited by the ADA (e.g., failure to hire, denial of promotion, or termination) because of an actual or perceived impairment will meet the “regarded as” definition of disability, unless the impairment is both transitory and minor;
- Individuals covered only under the “regarded as” prong are not entitled to reasonable accommodation.
These new regulations do not represent a substantial departure in the way we interpret the amendments that Congress passed back in 2008. However, they are a vivid reminder of just how much those amendments changed the landscape back then and how vigilant employers must be to make sure that they are meeting their obligations under the law.