Americans with Disabilities Act

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. The act defines a person with a disability as someone who has a physical or mental disability that substantially limits one or more major life activities or someone who has a history of or is regarded as having such an impairment. The prohibition against discrimination applies to school districts and charter schools. Under the ADA, the failure of an employer to provide a reasonable accommodation to a person with a disability is illegal discrimination unless the person cannot fulfill the essential functions of the job or providing the accommodation would constitute an undue hardship to the employer. 

If an employee requests an accommodation based on a disability, the employer must conduct an interactive process with the employee to determine if the employee is a person with a disability and what sort of reasonable accommodation would allow the employee to fulfill the essential functions of the job. The employer can request medical certification from the employee as part of this process, but the employer cannot request medical records in excess of those required for purposes of the interactive process. Generally, a request for an accommodation would be made with the human resource department rather than an immediate supervisor.  An employee who provides required medical information to a human resources director can expect that director to disclose to the employee’s supervisor only facts related to necessary restrictions on an employee’s duties and necessary accommodations. Districts must keep the employee’s health-related information on separate forms, in separate files, and treat it as a confidential medical record. 

The ADA also prevents inquiries that might lead to the disclosure of facts of a disability for which the employee requires no accommodation. A district “shall not make inquiries of an employee as to whether such employee is an individual with a disability or as to the nature or severity of the disability, unless such ... inquiry is shown to be job-related and consistent with business necessity.” Without meeting that standard, an employee cannot: ask questions about a person’s disability and the nature of a disability; make requests for medical documentation; question co-workers or friends about an employee’s disability; or inquire into current or prior use of prescription medications. Permitted questions include asking “How are you?,” asking about nondisability-related impairments such as a broken leg, and asking about on-the-job drinking or illegal drug use.

Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, effective June 27, 2023, added protections similar to those available under the ADA for pregnant workers by requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodation to pregnant employees, adding to the protections provided by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. Prior to the PWFA’s adoption, pregnant workers were entitled to a reasonable accommodation as provided by the ADA only if they had pregnancy-related conditions that constituted a disability.