In 2008, Congress amended the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to clearly explain to the courts what the ADA was intended to accomplish. One of the ADA's goals was to require employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities that affect major life activities. Since 1990, when the ADA was first enacted, the United States Supreme Court and the Circuit Courts of Appeal have issued opinions that have substantially limited or narrowly construed the plain language of the ADA such that essentially no one could come within the protections of the ADA. Rather than give the ADA's language its plain meaning, courts had narrowly and strictly construed the ADA and employees’s cases rarely made it to trial with the courts ruling in favor of the employers soon after a case was filed. The amended ADA did not change the wording of the definition of " disability" rather the Congress told the courts that the definition of disability "shall" be construed in favor of broad coverage. To have a disability under the ADA a person must have a mental or physical impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities. The amended ADA specifically states that standing, lifting and working, among other activities, are major life activities. Significantly, the new ADA provides that courts cannot factor in medications, mobility devices and similar devices/medications when determining if a person's impairment “substantially limits" a major life activity. The ADA applies to all employers that have more than 15 employees. Below is the new ADA statute along with other helpful information regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act.
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