The agency responsible for enforcing the Americans with Disabilities has revised several of its guidance documents to reflect recent changes to the law.
The May 15 changes were necessary because of the ADA Amendments Act, which expanded the law’s coverage in 2009, the U.S said in a press release.
The documents explain how ADA applies to applicants and employees with cancer, diabetes, epilepsy and intellectual disabilities. The amendments made it easier to conclude that individuals with those impairments — and many others — are entitled to ADA’s protections, the commission explained.
The guidance documents also describe when an employer may obtain medical information from applicants and employees; what types of reasonable accommodations individuals with these particular disabilities might need; how an employer should handle safety concerns; and what an employer should do to prevent and correct disability-based harassment, according to EEOC.
These guidance documents for these specific conditions were chosen for revision because “[n]early 34 million Americans have been diagnosed with cancer, diabetes, or epilepsy, and more than two million have an intellectual disability,” EEOC Chair Jacqueline A. Berrien said in a statement. “While there is a considerable amount of general information available about the ADA, the EEOC often is asked questions about how the ADA applies to these conditions.”
The documents revised are:
- Questions & Answers about Cancer in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act;
- Questions & Answers about Diabetes in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act;
- Questions & Answers about Epilepsy in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act; and
- Questions & Answers about Persons with Intellectual Disabilities in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
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