Posted on 09/18/2008 5:50:40 PM PDT by rbbeachkid
Congress gave final approval yesterday to legislation that will bring more Americans under the umbrella of “disabled” under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). President Bush said he’d sign the bill (S. 3406).
The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 reverses several court rulings from recent years that had limited the scope of ADA protections. It directs U.S. courts to apply a broader definition when deciding what truly qualifies as an ADA-covered disability.
The biggest change: The bill makes clear that courts (and employers) should not take into consideration any “mitigating measures” that reduce the impact of an impairment—such as medication, hearing aids or other assistive technology—in determining whether an employee is “disabled” under the ADA.
“The Supreme Court has slowly chipped away at the broad protections of the ADA and has created a new set of barriers for disabled Americans,” said Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), a chief sponsor of the ADA Amendments Act.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehrspecialist.com ...
Thanks to a Republican Congressman and a Republican president.
And they wonder why conservatives are disillusioned by the Republican party.
SHRM supported the compromise, and they are hardly liberals.
Keep this crap up and there will be only twelve people in America who are not defined as disabled in some way.
Who is SHRM?
I do not know this group. Why do you think they are conservative? This expanded law will lead to an increase in demand for HR professionals. Do you think a group of HR professionals would promote a law that would increase demand for their services?
Society for Human Resource Managers.
They are the association for the business professionals tasked with administrating these types of issues in the workplace - HR Managers.
They are pro-business and spent a great deal of time and money lobbying Congress on pro-business issues.
Believe me. Nobody but nobody wants more administrative work that adds cost and regulation to the workplace, and SHRM is one of them.
If they signed off on a compromise, then there is more to the story. They probably successfully got something far worse removed from the bill.
Administrative work can easily be outsourced and frequently is (i.e., nobody does their own payroll any more). SHRM focuses on building C-suite level career paths and pushing back on administrative regulation.
Thanks for the clarification. Any extension to the ADA is too much. With the rats running the show and the Republicans afraid of being labeled as heartless, this law may be the lesser of evils. If the rats gain firm control of government, we will see a blizzard of anti business legislation.
In other words, I AM legally blind. I have glasses/contact lenses that correct my vison, if I should choose to use these tools, that improve my vision to 20/40.
I’m disabled....You have to hire me and give me extra consideration in my work environment. Woe is me.
So do I fall under ADA protections now?
I am obese
I am subject to really painful ingrown toenails
I have a history of heel spurs that can make walking painful
Etc.
So who can I sue?
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