How2Day: Labor Laws for a Disability

Disabled workers and job applicants are protected from discrimination. Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
If person has a physical or mental impairment serious enough to restrict major life activities, she is protected from discrimination in both the job market and the workplace. Of five federal laws providing this protection, the three with broadest reach include the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Workforce Investment Act and the Rehabilitation Act. Additional discrimination laws are the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act and the Civil Service Reform Act.

The ADA protects people with disabilities from discrimination in employment. This protection extends to all job-related activities and procedures, from advertising and recruitment to placement and promotion. For example, an employer cannot refuse to interview an otherwise qualified job applicant because he is blind.

The ADA also requires employers to accommodate an employee's disability as long as the accommodation would be reasonable--in other words, not unduly burdensome or disruptive. For a worker with difficulty walking, for instance, the employer could permit a motorized wheelchair in the workplace. The law applies to private employers as well as employment agencies, labor groups and state and local government bodies.

This law prohibits discrimination and guarantees equal opportunity to people with disabilities while they are taking part in a wide array of federally funded job training and employment programs. While many of these offerings are provided through a national network of One Stop Career Centers, WIA protections also extend to programs at workplaces that receive government support. For example, if a deaf worker is taking her firm's computer training, the firm may have to provide a sign language interpreter.

This law applies to federal agencies, federally funded programs and private businesses holding federal contracts or subcontracts with a value of at least $10,000. Like the ADA, it bans discrimination against job applicants or workers with disabilities. But the Rehabilitation Act also requires federal agencies and contractors to take affirmative action in hiring, placing and promoting disabled individuals. For example, an employer could meet this requirement by explicitly stating in recruitment fliers that disabled people are welcome to apply.

Smaller groups of disabled workers and job applicants also receive protection under the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act and the Civil Service Reform Act. The first law bans discrimination against and requires equal opportunity for certain veterans employed by holders of federal contracts worth $25,000 or more if signed before December 1, 2003, or $100,000 or more if signed on or after that date. The second protects disabled federal employees in regard to the civil service personnel system.

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