3.31 A. Definitions

• Library: Disability Law and Practice, Vol. 3 (NY) 2017

A. Definitions

Disability is defined more broadly under the NYSHRL than under the ADA.⁷⁶ The NYSHRL defines disability as

• a physical, mental or medical impairment resulting from anatomical, physiological, genetic or neurological conditions which prevents the exercise of a normal bodily function or is demonstrable by medically accepted clinical or laboratory diagnostic techniques, or

• a record of such an impairment, or

• a condition regarded by others as having such an impairment.⁷⁷

According to the Second Circuit, a covered disability under the NYSHRL clearly includes conditions that do not substantially limit a major life activity. As support for its conclusion, the Second Circuit quoted the following language from a New York Court of Appeals case:

[T]ypical disability or handicap statutes narrowly defin[e] the terms in the ordinary sense to include only physical or mental conditions which limit the ability to perform certain activities (see, e.g., [the Rehabilitation Act of 1973]). However[,] in New York, the term “disability” is more broadly defined. The statute provides that disabilities are not limited to physical or mental impairments, but may also include “medical” impairments. . . . Fairly read, the statute covers a range of conditions varying in degree from those involving the loss of a bodily function to those which are merely diagnosable medical anomalies which impair bodily integrity and thus may lead to more serious conditions in the future.⁷⁸

Thus, the Second Circuit concluded that the Court of Appeals’ “literal reading of the statute” treats any “medically diagnosable impairment” as a disability under the NYSHRL.⁷⁹

Like the ADA, the NYSHRL protects people with a “record of such an impairment” and people who are “regarded by others” to have such an impairment.⁸⁰ In Doe v. Roe, the Appellate Division, First Department held that a job applicant suffered from “disability” within meaning of Human Rights Law where the prospective employer perceived the applicant to be a user of illegal drugs.⁸¹

In Grullon v. South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corp., the court held that a discharged employee established a prima facie case of discrimination based on a perceived disability, even assuming he did not establish actual disability, by presenting evidence that he confided to his superior that he suffered from alcoholism, and received a handwritten note in his mailbox immediately thereafter that warned him to watch his back. He was terminated a...