Alaska Employment Law

On June 25, 2008, the House of Representatives passed the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 exactly as it was reported out by the House Education & Labor and Judiciary Committees (H.R. 3195). This amendment is supported not only by the disability and civil rights communities, but also by such prominent members of the business community as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Society of Human Resource Professionals, and the National Association of Manufacturers. The bill passed by a huge, veto-proof margin: 402-17.

The amendments were in response to court decisions over the last decade - including Toyota and Sutton - that have excluded individuals who should have been covered under the ADA. The ADA Amendments Act will restore the ADA’s protections by, among other things:

• Requiring “disability” to be determined without regard to “mitigating measures”;
• Setting forth non-exclusive lists of major life activities (those previously identified in EEOC guidance) and of major bodily functions that come within the coverage of the ADA;
• Clarifying that the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the term “substantially limits” has been too narrow by explicitly defining it to mean “materially restricts”;
• Expressly deleting any substantial limitation requirement for proving that an individual is “regarded as” disabled; and
• Clarifying that “[a]n impairment that is episodic or in remission is a disability if it would substantially limit a major life activity when active.”

Next step: Passage of the House-passed bill in the Senate.

Timing: The sponsors’ goal is for the Senate to pass the bill this month.

H/T: NELA News