What employees are covered by the ADA?
In general, the ADA prohibits discrimination against a qualified person with a disability. There are no affirmative action requirements in the ADA. An employer can still hire the most qualified person for the job as long as the disability is not used to disqualify a person.

A "qualified person with a disability" is one who is able to perform the essential functions of a job with or without a reasonable accommodation.

The "essential functions" of a job include those job tasks which are fundamental to the position, rather than marginal. For example, an essential function for a receptionist is to greet and direct visitors, not to hang coats. Employers should revise job descriptions to reflect the essential functions and approximate time spent on each task.

"Reasonable accommodation" is defined by the ADA by example and must be determined on a case-by-case basis. Examples in the statute include:
 

• making facilities physically accessible;
• job restructuring;
• part-time or modified work schedules;
• reassignments to a vacant job;
• acquisition or modification of equipment or devices;
• adjustment or modification of examinations, training materials or policies;
• providing qualified readers or interpreters; and
• other similar accommodations.

Reasonable accommodations might include, for example, allowing an employee to nap on the job after a seizure or permitting a clerical worker to use the accessible executive bathroom.

How does an employer know if an accommodation is needed and which accommodation to offer?
It is the applicant's or employee's responsibility to request an accommodation. Employers should discuss the need for accommodation with the applicant or employee and investigate possible accommodations with groups serving people with disabilities and the Federal Job Accommodation Network. An employer is not required to provide the most expensive accommodation or the accommodation that the employee prefers, but it must allow the employee do his job.

Are there any limits on the amount of money an employer is required to spend on "reasonable accommodations"?
Accommodations are not reasonable if to provide the accommodation would result in undue financial or administrative burden. The ADA looks to the budget of an entire entity for financial burden; a fundamental change in a program is an administrative burden.

Thus if an applicant who had learning disabilities, including short-term memory deficits, would need a full-time partner to be able to safely administer pesticides or herbicides, and in that position an employee traditionally worked alone, an employer could argue that to provide the accommodation would be both an undue financial and administrative burden. However, if the applicant only needed someone to read the directions once and then could safely complete the tasks, the defense of undue burdens would not be successful.

Can an employer have job standards without discriminating against people with disabilities?
An employer must assure that qualification standards are job-related and consistent with business necessity. Qualification standards, employment tests and other job-selection criteria must be analyzed to assure that qualified employees with disabilities are not screened out, whether intentionally or not, unless the criteria is essential for the safe and adequate performance of the essential elements of the job.

For example, to require a person to demonstrate the ability to pick up weights of 25 pounds or more would only be allowed if the employer can show that lifting such weights are basic elements of the job and that the tasks cannot be assigned to another employee or otherwise accommodated. Employers should match any employment requirement against the job description which defines the essential elements of the job. An employer may ask any applicant how he would accomplish certain job tasks (e.g., asking an applicant with visual impairments about word processing; ask an employee who has been on medical leave due to severe asthma how he would be able to complete his landscaping assignments).

Can an employer ask about the disability or require an applicant to take a medical examination?
An employer must eliminate pre-employment medical tests or inquiries. An employer cannot require any medical tests, or ask the employee or his references about medical or worker's compensation history, or ask even general questions about an applicant's health until after a job or promotion is offered. Post-employment medical examinations are only allowed if an offer has been made and all employees in the same or similar positions are required to take the test and the results of the examination are kept in a confidential file, and the results will not be used to withdraw the offer of employment unless the examination revealed that the applicant is not qualified.

Can an employer refuse to give an employee medical or other insurance coverage because it will raise the cost?
An employer must offer the same terms, conditions or privileges of employment to all employees, regardless of disability, and must not enter into contracts with any organization providing training, insurance or any other privilege of employment which discriminates against people with disabilities. Insurance, employee training, and other employee benefits must be equally available to employees with disabilities.

For example, if an insurance company will not insure an employee with Multiple Sclerosis, then the employer must find another insurer or otherwise comparable benefits. (Pre-existing claims, exemptions, or limitations on types of treatment - not types of illness - are acceptable if all employees are treated the same.) If the company has yearly parties for employees in an inaccessible location, the location must be changed.

What if the cost of insurance will increase not because of the employee, but his/her spouse or child?
An employer cannot discriminate against a person with a disability because that person associates with a disability. An employer could not refuse to hire a person or offer different benefits because a spouse or a child with a disability might raise the employer's insurance rates.

What if an employer’s customers or other employees feel uncomfortable around the employee with a disability?
Can the employer ask that employee to work at home, for example? An employer cannot segregate a person with a disability (for example, requiring a sales clerk with a disability to only work in the the stock room). Instead of segregating the employee, sensitize your employees to the rights of people with disabilities and the manner in which they should be treated.

What if an employer believes that the employee cannot perform the job safely, and he/she feels that the employee threatens the safety of employees and others?
An employer may require that an employee not pose a direct threat to the health or safety of other individuals in the workplace. This direct threat must be significant and immediate and must not be based on stereotypical assumptions but on real data. The employee must not be refused the opportunity of employment unless the direct threat cannot be eliminated with a reasonable accommodation.

An employer must research possible accommodations before rejecting an employee based on possible threats to safety. Calls to disability agencies (e.g., the Epilepsy Foundation) or the Centers for Disease Control may be helpful. The ADA has specific rules for food handlers with infectious diseases as listed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.