Marshall's Law

The "New" Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

By Marshall H. Tanick, Attorney at Law

While much attention was rightfully focused upon the Wall Street bailout measures within the administration and Congress recently, an important new piece of legislation was enacted that will have significant affect on most employers in Minnesota and across t he nation.

In late September after years of wrangling, Congress overwhelmingly passed amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), later signed by President Bush, the Federal law that prohibits discrimination against a person with a disability in access to public accommodations and in employment matters. The new measure intended to reduce barriers to the disabled in employment matters, employees and their advocates have deemed to be overly restrictive on the rights of the disabled.

The new amendments effectively re-write the law in several ways. One of the major changes is its directive that courts and administrative agencies are required to construe the law liberally in order to afford "broad coverage" to employees. The definition of disability also has been relaxed, as have other provisions of the law. For a more detailed discussion of the new law, see the article by my colleague, Denise Tataryn, in this issue of eWatch.

As a result, employers and employees face a whole new world in dealing with disability issues. The likely result of the new law is an increase in claims of disability discrimination by employees.

If you or your organization would like more information about the law and how it might affect you, please contact us and we will be glad to help you. Our law firm also has a presentation that we would be glad to present about the "new" disability law that will affect you and your workplace.