ADAAA

dusty moshier

Does anyone have any thoughts on the application of the ADAAA to individuals with a disability seeking a position that may be dangerous to themselves, even with an accommodation? As I read the ADAAA, the only provision I find dealing with safety issues is 103(b) Qualification Standards and it provides " for the health or safety of other individuals in the workplace", but I do not find any reference to the health or safety of the individual.

ACU Frank

If the classic Johnson Controls case still holds water, the safety of the employee is a non-issue. As far as that goes, the safety of a hypothetical employee's unborn child is also a non-issue. While that wasn't specifically an ADA-related decision, it did set the expectation that an employee's qualifications and desire to hold a specific position trump any potential dangers related to the employee's physical condition.

That case remains a head-scratcher, many years later.

Jonathan Mook

In Chevron v. Echazabel (2002), the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the EEOC's regulation that an employer may have qualification standard that an employee not pose a direct threat to himself or others, even though the ADA only refers to the safety of other individuals in the workplace. The ADAAA does not change this aspect of the law.