Title I Technical Assistance Manual

7.3 Nondiscrimination in all Employment Practices

The ADA prohibits discrimination against a qualified individual with a disability on the basis of disability in the following employment practices:

• Recruitment, advertising, and job application procedures;

• Hiring, upgrading, promotion, award of tenure, demotion, transfer, layoff, termination, right of return from layoff, and rehiring;

• Rates of pay or any other form of compensation, and changes in compensation;

• Job assignments, job classifications, organizational structures, position descriptions, lines of progression, and seniority lists;

• Leaves of absence, sick leave, or any other leave;

• Fringe benefits available by virtue of employment, whether or not administered by the covered entity;

• Selection and financial support for training, including: apprenticeships, professional meetings, conferences, and other related activities, and selection for leaves of absence to pursue training;

• Activities sponsored by a covered entity including social and recreational programs; and

• Any other term, condition, or privilege of employment.

Nondiscrimination, as applied to all employment practices, means that:

• an individual with a disability should have equal access to any employment opportunity available to a similarly situated individual who is not disabled;

• employment decisions concerning an employee or applicant should be based on objective factual evidence about the particular individual, not on assumptions or stereotypes about the individual's disability;

• the qualifications of an individual with a disability may be evaluated on ability to perform all job-related functions, with or without reasonable accommodation. However, an individual may not be excluded from a job because a disability prevents performance of marginal job functions;

• an employer must provide a reasonable accommodation that will enable an individual with a disability to have an equal opportunity in every aspect of employment, unless a particular accommodation would impose an undue hardship;

• an employer may not use an employment practice or policy that screens out or tends to screen out an individual with a disability or a class of individuals with disabilities, unless the practice or policy is job related and consistent with business necessity and the individual cannot be accommodated without undue hardship;

• an employer may not limit, segregate, or classify an individual with a disability in any way that negatively affects the individual in terms of job opportunity and advancement;

• an individual with a disability should not because of a disability be treated differently than a similarly situated individual in any aspect of employment, except when a reasonable accommodation is needed to provide an equal employment opportunity, or when another Federal law or regulation requires different treatment.

These requirements are discussed in this chapter as they apply to various employment practices. The prohibition against retaliation is discussed in Chapter X.