Rehabilitation Act and Ada Discrimination Claims -two Birds You Can't Always Kill With One Stone

• Jurisdiction: United States,Federal
• Citation: Vol. 26 No. 1 Pg. 24
• Pages: 24
• Publication year: 2013

Utah Bar Journal Volume 26.

Vol. 26, No. 1. 24. Rehabilitation Act and ADA Discrimination Claims -Two Birds You Can't Always Kill With One Stone

Utah Bar Journal
Volume 26 No. 1
Jan/Feb 2013

Rehabilitation Act and ADA Discrimination Claims -Two Birds You Can't Always Kill With One Stone

by Chris Glauser

Most employment lawyers are very familiar with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination by employers based on an employee's disability. However, if a defendant/employer receives federal assistance, a plaintiff can also bring a discrimination claim under the less familiar Rehabilitation Act. See 29 U.S.C. § 794(a) (1994) ("No otherwise qualified individual with a disability . . . shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. . . "). Like the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act prohibits employers from discriminating based on an employee's disability. See id. In most cases, an ADA claim and a Rehabilitation Act claim will rise and fall together, as both apply similar standards to determine whether discrimination has occurred. In fact, the Rehabilitation Act expressly incorporates portions of the ADA, providing that:

The standards used to determine whether this section has been violated in a complaint alleging employment discrimination under this section shall be the standards applied under title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12111 et seq.) and the provisions of sections 501 through 504, and 510, of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12201-12204 and 12210), as such sections relate to employment.

Id. § 794(d)

Because the Rehabilitation Act expressly incorporates Title I of the ADA, courts generally apply the standards and case law arising out of ADA claims in determining whether a defendant has violated the Rehabilitation Act. This includes determining whether an individual has a qualifying disability, determining whether the conduct at issue constitutes discrimination, and applying the familiar McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting analysis to discrimination claims. See Cummings v. Norton, 393 F3d 1186, 1190 n.2 (10th Cir. 2005) ("'Because the language of disability used in the ADA mirrors that in the Rehabilitation Act, we look to cases construing the Rehabilitation Act for...