EEOC Issues Final Regulations To Americans With Disabilities Act Amendments Act

New rules lower the threshold, allowing more people to qualify as disabled.

On March 24, 2011, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") issued final regulations implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act ("ADAAA"). The ADAAA, which became effective January 1, 2009, rejected a series of Supreme Court decisions that had narrowly construed the term "disability." Although the ADAAA did not redefine the meaning of disability, it expanded the number of people who could qualify as being disabled by, among other things, lowering the threshold for establishing that an impairment "substantially limits" a major life activity.

The EEOC regulations confirm that the purpose of the ADAAA is "to make it easier for people with disabilities to obtain protection under the ADA." To this end, the definition of "disability" is to be "construed broadly in favor of expansive coverage," and "[t]he question of whether an individual meets the definition of