Employment Discrimination Laws for Disability: Utilization and Outcome

In: The annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Volume 549, Issue 1, p. 53-70

Abstract

This assessment of the potential impact of the laws that prohibit disability-based employment discrimination reviews the logic of civil rights law and its application to disability. The development, structure, and operation of state and federal employment discrimination laws for disability, and the experience with the utilization and enforcement of these laws, are presented. With data from state enforcement agency reports, the pattern of employment discrimination complaints filed under state laws prior to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is analyzed. The data are similar to the early ADA complaint data: a large proportion of complaints came from persons with jobs or who had lost jobs, and less than 50 percent of the complaints resulted in a finding favorable to the complainant. Based on what has been found about the effectiveness of prior civil rights legislation, expectations for the impact of the ADA and potential measures of its success are suggested.