Drug Testing and the Americans with Disabilities Act

October 30th, 2014

Kenneth Morales

Content Editor

The ADA makes it unlawful to discriminate against a person because of a disability. Employers must engage in an interactive process with the employee or applicant in order to determine how to reasonably accommodate the disability. This interactive process is an essential requirement in complying with the ADA.

It is not the responsibility of the applicant or employee to tell the employer how to accommodate a disability. Instead, One risk employers face is that an expressed concern is not recognized as a matter that would qualify as a disability under the ADA. This is understandable given the subjective nature of a “disability” under the law. They should: (a) listen to concerns expressed by the applicant or employee; (b) escalate the matter to other managers or executives for their input (more is better in this instance), and (c) respond appropriately.