Actions which Constitute Discrimination

Technical assistance manual on the employment provisions (Title I) of the Americans With Disabilities Act

I. TITLE I: AN OVERVIEW OF LEGAL REQUIREMENTS

The ADA specifies types of actions that may constitute discrimination. These actions are discussed more fully in the following chapters, as indicated:

1) Limiting, segregating, or classifying a job applicant or employee in a way that adversely affects employment opportunities for the applicant or employee because of his or her disability. (See Chapter VII.)

2) Participating in a contractual or other arrangement or relationship that subjects an employer’s qualified applicant or employee with a disability to discrimination. (See Chapter VII.)

3) Denying employment opportunities to a qualified individual because s/he has a relationship or association with a person with a disability. (See Chapter VII.)

4) Refusing to make reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of a qualified applicant or employee with a disability, unless the accommodation would pose an undue hardship on the business. (See Chapters III. and VII.)

5) Using qualification standards, employment tests, or other selection criteria that screen out or tend to screen out an individual with a disability unless they are job–related and necessary for the business. (See Chapter IV.)

6) Failing to use employment tests in the most effective manner to measure actual abilities. Tests must accurately reflect the skills, aptitude, or other factors being measured, and not the impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills of an employee or applicant with a disability (unless those are the skills the test is designed to measure). (See Chapter V.)

7) Denying an employment opportunity to a qualified individual because s/he has a relationship or association with an individual with a disability. (See Chapter VII.)

8) Discriminating against an individual because s/he has opposed an employment practice of the employer or filed a complaint, testified, assisted, or participated in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing to enforce provisions of the Act. (See Chapter X.)