Striking the balance between the need to hire qualified employees and the need to avoid disability discrimination claims has become even more challenging since changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) went into effect in 2009. Employers who rely on “qualification standards” in hiring, promoting, and reassigning workers need to understand how federal regulators and courts are interpreting these job tests in light of the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA).

With the ADAAA, Congress specifically sought to allow more job applicants and employees to claim protection under the ADA. The definition of a disability remains the same: “an impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of such an impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment.” However, the interpretation of what qualifies as a disability under this definition has changed. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which oversees ADA enforcement, “The effect of these changes is to make it easier for an individual seeking protection under the ADA to establish that he or she has a disability within the meaning of the ADA.”