The Americans with Disabilities Act provides guidelines and regulations to ensure that employers treat those with disabilities as fairly as they treat those without disabilities. With the ADA, disabled individuals no longer have to worry about whether or not their disability will prevent them from being hired or advancing in a workplace for which they are perfectly qualified. In order to minimize the amount of subjectivity that could come with disability protections, the ADA is very clear with many of the protections it affords, and to whom those protections are afforded.
FindLaw is an excellent source for learning all of the intricacies of the Americans with Disabilities Act, but if you want to know what you can expect from the ADA, look no further. The ADA requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for their disabled employees. These accommodations can include modifying work facilities to ensure accessibility (such as adding ramps for handicap access), providing schedule flexibility, modifying examinations or equipment and many other such responsibilities.
You may find yourself wondering if the ADA extends its protection to your circumstances. When defining a disability, the ADA looks for individuals who have impairments, either physical or mental, that significantly limit major life activities. It also applies to individuals with a record of such impairments, or who are regarded as individuals who have such an impairment.
In San Francisco, we take our employee’s rights very seriously, and the Americans with Disabilities Act is one of the most important pieces of legislation concerning the employment opportunities of disabled individuals. The ADA protects you from being passed up for employment or promotion based on your disability, and requires employers to make reasonable accommodation for your disability. If they fail in either of these regards, you could be entitled to compensation.