Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Federal statute (42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq.) prohibiting discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities. Title I covers employment, applies to employers with 15+ employees. Requires reasonable accommodation of qualified individuals' disabilities unless undue hardship. The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 substantially broadened the disability definition. Interactive-process requirement is central, failure to engage in good-faith dialogue independently supports liability.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a comprehensive federal civil rights statute prohibiting discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities. The ADA covers employment (Title I), state and local government (Title II), public accommodations (Title III), telecommunications (Title IV), and miscellaneous provisions (Title V). For commercial employers, Title I, employment, is the principal concern. The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA) substantially broadened the definition of disability, reversing earlier Supreme Court decisions that had narrowed coverage.
"Disability" under the ADAAA
The ADA defines disability as: (1) a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; (2) a record of such impairment; (3) being regarded as having such impairment. The ADAAA (2008) substantially broadened "disability" by: (1) requiring courts to construe "disability" broadly in favor of coverage; (2) overruling cases that excluded conditions controllable by mitigating measures (medication, prosthetics); (3) clarifying that "regarded as" claims do not require limitation of major life activity; (4) listing major life activities expansively (caring for self, walking, hearing, seeing, learning, concentrating, working, etc.). Post-ADAAA, the threshold disability question is rarely the principal issue; the focus has shifted to reasonable accommodation and qualified-individual analysis.
Qualified individual
ADA protection requires the individual to be "qualified", meaning the individual: (1) satisfies the requisite skill, experience, education, and other job-related requirements; (2) can perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation. "Essential functions", those fundamental to the position, not merely marginal, are determined by employer's judgment, written job description, time spent on functions, consequences of not requiring performance, work experience of past incumbents. Distinguishing essential from marginal functions is critical to ADA analysis; reasonable accommodations need only enable performance of essential functions.
Reasonable accommodation
The ADA requires employers to make "reasonable accommodation" of qualified individuals' disabilities unless doing so would impose "undue hardship." Common accommodations: (1) job restructuring, modifying non-essential duties; (2) modified work schedules, flexible hours, part-time, telework; (3) physical modifications, accessible workspace, assistive equipment; (4) reassignment to vacant position; (5) leave for medical treatment or recovery; (6) auxiliary aids and services, interpreters, readers, assistive technology. The accommodation must be "reasonable" but not necessarily the employee's first choice or most preferred option. Telework as accommodation has expanded substantially post-COVID.
The interactive process
The ADA requires an "interactive process", an informal, individualized dialogue between employer and employee to identify accommodation needs and options. The process typically: (1) employee notice, employee notifies employer of need (medical certification often required); (2) information exchange, employer obtains needed medical information about limitations and accommodation needs; (3) accommodation identification, discussion of possible accommodations; (4) implementation; (5) monitoring and adjustment. Failure to engage in good-faith interactive process can independently support liability, even where no specific accommodation is denied. The process is collaborative, failures in process create liability independent of accommodation outcomes.
Undue hardship
Employers can refuse otherwise reasonable accommodations that would impose "undue hardship", significant difficulty or expense considering: (1) cost of accommodation; (2) overall financial resources of employer; (3) size of facility/employer; (4) type of operations; (5) impact on operations. Undue hardship is a high bar; cost alone rarely justifies denial for large employers. Documentation of the cost-benefit analysis is critical for asserted undue-hardship defenses. Direct threat to safety can also justify denial of accommodation, but requires individualized assessment, not stereotypes about disability.
Pre-employment medical inquiries
The ADA imposes specific limitations on medical inquiries: (1) pre-offer, no medical inquiries permitted; only inquiries about ability to perform job functions; (2) post-offer/pre-employment, comprehensive medical inquiries permitted if required of all entering employees in the same job category; offer can be conditioned on medical exam; (3) post-employment, medical inquiries only when "job-related and consistent with business necessity." Improper pre-employment medical inquiries are common ADA violations.
Damages and remedies
ADA Title I damages parallel Title VII: (1) back pay and front pay; (2) compensatory damages for emotional distress; (3) punitive damages for malicious or reckless violations; (4) injunctive relief; (5) attorney's fees. Compensatory and punitive damages are subject to combined caps under the Civil Rights Act of 1991: $50K (15-100 employees), $100K (101-200), $200K (201-500), $300K (500+). Damage caps make ADA cases more economically constrained than ADEA's uncapped liquidated damages.
For Texas employers, ADA compliance is detail-intensive and litigation-prone. Best practice: (1) maintain accurate, current job descriptions identifying essential vs. marginal functions; (2) train managers on ADA basics, particularly reasonable accommodation and interactive process; (3) document interactive process steps contemporaneously; (4) develop accommodation analysis frameworks for common requests (telework, modified schedules, leave); (5) coordinate ADA with FMLA (overlapping but distinct frameworks); (6) limit pre-employment medical inquiries strictly to ability-to-perform questions; (7) review job postings and screening processes for accidentally discriminatory criteria. For employees: (1) request accommodation in writing with medical support; (2) engage actively in interactive process; (3) document employer responses; (4) preserve EEOC charge deadlines. Common pitfall: employers treating accommodation as adversarial rather than interactive, generating both ADA liability and adverse practical outcomes.
Companion article: Before Firing an Employee