Lawrence Postol Published in HR Magazine
“ADAAA Will Result In Renewed Emphasis On Reasonable Accommodations”

Lawrence Postol's article, "ADAAA Will Result In Renewed Emphasis On Reasonable Accommodations," was published in the January 2009 issue of HR Magazine. In his article, Lawrence discusses the expansion of the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) and how the changes to the Act will stress reasonable accommodations for employees. The ADAAA expands the definition of the term “disability” which increases the number of people who are protected. According to Lawrence, "[t]he ADAAA's stated goal is to change the focus from who is protected to whether employers are complying with their obligations under the law." He explains that because of this change, employers will need to make a renewed focus on the interactive process with disabled workers, where the employer discusses with the workers what reasonable accommodations will allow them to perform their essential job duties. He further explains that “Employers will need to make sure managers know of their obligation to provide reasonable accommodations and that managers do not reject requests out of hand, without any analysis.”

Lawrence points out that if employers are faced with litigation, in most cases they will no longer be able to argue over whether the worker is covered by the ADA. Now, the focus will be on whether the employer engaged in the interactive process and provided reasonable accommodations. He advises employers to look for other defenses to ADA claims, since, in most cases, they will no longer be able to contest whether a worker’s impairment qualifies as a disability under the ADA. In conclusion, Lawrence remarks, “Employers must make sure that they have policies and procedures for dealing with accommodation requests and that managers properly implement those policies. It will take training and human resource support to assure that managers engage in the interactive process and fairly consider all possible accommodations.”