On Sept. 25, 2008, President Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008, or ADAAA, into law. It moved swiftly through Congress after receiving unanimous approval in the Senate and by voice vote by the House of Representatives. The ADAAA explicitly overrules recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent interpreting the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, as well as portions of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s ADA regulations. The ADAAA specifically notes that the U.S. Supreme Court incorrectly “narrowed the broad scope of protection intended to be afforded by the ADA, thus eliminating protection for many individuals whom Congress intended to protect.” It also specifically directs courts to construe the definition of disability “in favor of broad coverage of individuals … to the maximum extent permitted by the terms of this Act.”
In making these important changes, however, Congress remained silent on whether the ADAAA is to be applied retroactively to events that occurred before Jan. 1, 2009, the date on which the amendments went into effect. This silence provides grist for argument and, no doubt, will be one of the first issues facing courts in the new year. Aggrieved employees and their counsel will undoubtedly seize on Congress’ silence and fight for retroactive application, arguing that the statute is meant to be remedial in nature and to undo injustices of prior interpretations. Employers and defense counsel will be taking the opposite view by arguing that they relied on legal interpretations of courts and that they should not be held liable for taking actions that were lawful at the time. Based on U.S. Supreme Court precedent addressing retroactivity as applied to the Civil Rights Act of 1991, bets are on the employer/defense side. See Landgraf v. USI Film Prods . and Rivers v. Roadway Express Inc.
The Landgraf Decision
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