For those who regularly litigate claims on behalf of employees under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the single biggest challenge has been (and remains) proving the existence of a disability. After all, the ADA is one of the only civil rights laws where your case can be thrown out because the employee is not a member of the protected class. While other laws have traditionally focused on the alleged harm by the employer, the ADA was crafted in such a way that forced employees to jump through a series of hoops just to get a foot in the door.

ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA)

The hope was that many of the problems in having to prove an actual disability would go away following the amendments to the ADA in 2008 with the advent of the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA). In enacting the ADAAA, Congress mandated that the “definition of disability … shall be construed in favor of broad coverage of individuals” and “to the maximum extent permitted.” Unlike the prior standard which required an impairment to be “permanent or long term” to qualify as a disability, under the ADAAA, the effects of an impairment that last fewer than six months can still be deemed “substantially limiting” under the ADA.