Does the ADA Protect Workers With Temporary Disabilities?

If you have an illness or an injury, and you need an accommodation at work, the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) protects you and requires that you be given the accommodations that you need to allow you to do your job with your disability.

But the ADA doesn’t apply to all disabilities. As a general rule, the ADA doesn’t protect workers for shorter term, or temporary disabilities. But defining what a long-term disability, covered by the ADA is, as opposed to  short-term disability, isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Short Term Disability

Things like colds, the flu, or minor surgeries, don’t by themselves allow you the protection of the ADA at work. But complications from them certainly can.

To take a simple example, you don’t get the protections of the ADA because you are having shoulder surgery. But if you had shoulder surgery, and your shoulder was never the same, and you had a physical limitation in your arm because of the surgery, that would be protected by the ADA.

Or, imagine that you were in an accident and had a brain injury. The recovery from the accident may be considered minor, or temporary. But if you suffered long term lack of attention span, or memory loss, these things would now be considered more permanent, and thus, covered by the ADA.

How Long is Permanent?

The ADA doesn’t actually say how long a condition needs to be, to be protected. This has left the question up to courts to decide. The EEOC has suggested that if a disability or illness or effects from them lasts more than six months, it is protected, and this is generally a good guideline.

This doesn’t mean that you have to have had the disability for six months to get an accommodation—only that it is expected to last six months.

Less Than Six Months

But the EEOC has said that time duration is only one factor in considering whether the ADA applies to protect a worker.

Workers can get accommodations under the ADA, even for conditions that are expected to last fewer than six months, if the worker’s condition is “sufficiently severe.” So, for example, an employee who is unable to walk because of his or her condition may qualify even if it is expected that he or she will walk again within the six-month time period.

Unfortunately, many employers aren’t aware of these exceptions and of the EEOC’s broad definition of a covered disability, and many will deny accommodations just based on time expectancy of the disability alone.

Other Protections

Note that even if a disability is not covered by the ADA, it doesn’t leave workers without protection. Employees have the option of family medical leave, or other state laws that protect the worker, depending on the condition that the worker is suffering from.

If you need accommodation at work because of a disability, we can help. Contact the San Jose employment attorneys at the Costanzo Law Firm today.

Sources:

disabilitysecrets.com/resources/disability/short-term-disability-laws/does-americans-disabilities-act-ada-cover-short

eeoc.gov/newsroom/eeoc-releases-new-ada-guidance-defining-disability