Amending the Americans with Disabilities Act

• Published date: 01 March 2012
• Author: Christine Ledvinka Rush
• DOI: 10.1177/0734371X11433883
• Date: 01 March 2012
• Subject Matter: Legal Brief

Review of Public Personnel Administration

32(1) 75 –86

© 2012 SAGE Publications

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DOI: 10.1177/0734371X11433883

http://rop.sagepub.com

433883ROA32110.1177/0734371X11433883Ru

shReview of Public Personnel Administration

1Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH, USA

Corresponding Author:

Christine Ledvinka Rush, Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University,

2121 Euclid Avenue, UR 312, Cleveland, OH 44115, USA

Email: c.l.rush@csuohio.edu

Amending the Americans

with Disabilities Act:

Shifting Equal Employment

Opportunity Obligations

in Public Human

Resource Management

Christine Ledvinka Rush1

Abstract

This research examines changing public human resources obligations under the

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). During the first 12 years after ADA

implementation, the U.S. Supreme Court issued several rulings that narrowly

construed who qualified as disabled (Albertson’s v. Kirkingburg; Murphy v. United Parcel

Services; Sutton v. United Airlines; Toyota Motor Manufacturing v. Williams). In 2008,

Congress responded to these judicial interpretations by specifically rejecting the

Supreme Court’s analysis and unequivocally stating the intent to expand the scope

of protection under the ADA. This interbranch dialog over ADA interpretation

challenges public employers to predict responsibilities under shifting ADA

requirements. Furthermore, analysis suggests that both the original statute and

the 2008 Amendments Act suffer from a lack of clarity regarding who qualifies as

disabled. Public human resource managers must evaluate how best to meet their

ADA obligations in this climate of legal ambiguity and fiscal uncertainty.

Keywords

legal, disability, equal employment opportunity, discrimination, Americans with

Disabilities Act

Legal Brief