EEOC Implements Final Regulations Based On The ADA Amendments Act

Originally published June 6, 2011

May 24, 2011 was the effective date for final regulations published by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) based on the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA).¹ As a result, employers with fifteen or more employees have yet another set of rules governing their workplaces. Although the ADAAA has been in effect for more than two years, the new regulations extend the ADAAA's protections and make it even easier for an employee to prove a federal claim of disability discrimination.² Highlights of the new rules that employers and managers should keep in mind are the following:

1. The new rules still prohibit disability discrimination and require that disabilities be reasonably accommodated unless there is undue hardship. Neither the ADAAA nor the new regulations change the basic framework for analyzing federal disability discrimination issues. Federal prohibitions and protections still mirror those