What protections are afforded under the ADA?

On behalf of Sullivan Law Group APC posted in workplace discrimination on Friday, October 19, 2018.

Living with a disability can be difficult; having a career with one can be even more so. Yet part of living is enjoying your career. Thus, you should not be impeded from being able to have a fulfilling job in San Diego. Thankfully, the Americans with Disabilities Act was designed to ensure that does not happen. 

Before learning what rights you are afforded under the ADA, it first helps to understand whether or not you are even subject to it. Per the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, you must have a significant impairment for the ADA to apply to you. Furthermore, that impairment must hinder your ability to do any of the following: 

  • Essential functions such as breathing, seeing, hearing or speaking
  • Walking or performing manual tasks
  • Caring for yourself
  • Learning or working

For the protection from workplace discrimination offered through the ADA to apply to you, you must also be able to perform the job that you are seeking (both with and without accommodations). 

If you are protected under the ADA, then you cannot be discriminated against during the recruitment or hiring process, in the execution of standard workplace functions, or in matters pertaining to career advancement. Once you have been hired, an employer must provide reasonable accommodations to allow you to successfully complete your work. Those accommodations can include anything from providing resources to help in performing job functions to making your physical work environment more accommodating to your condition. 

If you develop a disability and then attempt to return to work, the ADA requires that you be returned to your same position (or to one with similar responsibilities and compensation). Your employer must also try to reassign your job functions, structure your schedule and/or adjust your performance standards as much as it reasonably can.