The Essential Guide to Family & Medical Leave

chapter 11 | how other laws affect FMLA leave | 251
ADA Basics
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits employers from
discriminating against employees with disabilities who can perform the
job’s essential functions with or without a reasonable accommodation. An
employee has a disability for purposes of the ADA if the employee:
• has a long-term physical or mental impairment that substantially
limits a major life activity, such as the ability to walk, talk, see, hear,
breathe, reason, work, or take care of oneself (short-term or temporary
impairments—such as pregnancy—are not covered)
• has a history of such an impairment (for example, the employee suffered
cancer or depression in the past), or
• is perceived by the employer as having a disability. This sometimes comes
up when an employee has an obvious impairment (such as a limp or
speech impediment) that is not actually disabling.
Employers are required to make reasonable accommodations to allow
employees with disabilities to do their jobs. A reasonable accommodation is
assistance (technological or otherwise) or a change to the workplace or job
that allows the employee to perform its essential functions—the job’s most
fundamental tasks. Examples include providing voice-recognition software
for an employee with carpal tunnel syndrome; altering the height of a desk
for an employee in a wheelchair; providing a distraction-free environment for
an employee with attention deficit disorder; or allowing a diabetic employee
to take more frequent breaks to eat and drink, take medication, or test blood
sugar levels.
Under the ADA, an employer does not have to provide a reasonable
accommodation if doing so would create an undue hardship. Whether an
accommodation creates an undue hardship depends on a number of factors,
including:
• the nature and cost of the accommodation
• the size and financial resources of the business and the facility where the
employee works
• the structure of the business, and
• the effect the accommodation would have on the business.