The Americans with Disabilities Act generally requires employers with 15 or more employees to reasonably accommodate qualifying disabled employees, unless doing so would cause undue hardship. Even employers with the best intentions struggle to determine who is disabled and what accommodations are “reasonable” under the act. This challenge is most apparent where requested accommodations are expensive or effectively result in reallocation of job duties to other overstretched employees.

Following enactment of the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 and implementing regulations, and the EEOC’s growing focus on disability issues, the need for employers to thoughtfully and carefully identify and handle accommodation requests has become heightened. Before enactment of the ADAAA, an individual generally did not qualify as “disabled” unless his or her impairment severely or significantly restricted a “major life activity.” The ADAAA and the EEOC’s interpretive regulations expanded what constitutes a major life activity and the types of impairments that may qualify as disabilities. This shift has resulted in increased scrutiny of employer accommodation decisions. For example, pregnancy by itself generally was not considered a disability without concurrent medical conditions affecting major life activities, but the EEOC now interprets the law differently.

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