U.S. Supreme Court defines ‘disability,’ clarifies ADA
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the scope of the Americans With Disabilities Act by defining a disability as a long-term or permanent “impairment that prevents or severely restricts the individual from doing activities that are of central importance to most people’s daily lives.” Inability to perform job tasks does not equal disability, according to the court.
The case was Toyota v. Williams, in which an employee of a Toyota assembly plant sued the company for refusal to accommodate her disability. The employee developed carpal tunnel syndrome, and, unable to perform manual work on the assembly line, was reassigned to a job inspecting paint on cars. When the company expanded her job to include wiping the cars with highlight oil, she sued, contending that her injury prevented her from performing the additional tasks.
The Supreme Court remanded the case to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals for further proceedings. However, in a decision written by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the court stated that the standard of measure for determining disability is the claimant’s ability to perform everyday, central tasks such as “household chores, bathing and brushing teeth.” The manual tasks “unique to any particular job are not necessarily important parts of most people’s lives,” the court added.
According to the Washington Post, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (USCC) is calling the ruling “the definitive opinion on what constitutes a disability under the ADA.” The organization expects the ruling to reduce the number of ADA cases brought against businesses but denies that it will encourage businesses to resist making accommodations for impaired employees.
“The majority of accommodations are not tremendously expensive, and most employers do it,” Stephen Bokat, general counsel for USCC, told the Post. “It happens every day, whether it’s covered by the ADA or not.”
The full text of the court decision can be viewed at http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US