Frank Morris, a Member of the Firm in the Litigation practice and head of the Labor and Employment Practice in the Washington, DC office, was quoted on the ADA Amendments Act, signed into law September 2008, one of many new and revised laws that human resource professionals will need to comply with in 2009.
In the HRFocus article, “Top Law Changes Employers Must Be Ready For in 2009,” Morris said that under the act, courts likely “will pass over the question of disability” and proceed to issues of discrimination, reasonable accommodation, and the like. The law provides that the definition of disability found in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and decisions construing that law should be “the touchstone” for courts construing the ADA, Morris said.
Court decisions denying ADA coverage that relied on the Supreme Court’s decisions in Sutton v. United Airlines Inc. and Toyota Motor Mfg. of Ky. Inc. v. Williams are “largely no longer relevant,” since Congress disavowed those rulings, Morris said. Congress also indicated that an EEOC regulation defining “substantially limits” as “significantly restricts” is incorrect and directed the commission to revise its ADA rules, Morris said.
Morris is co-chair of the Firm’s Disability Law Group.