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Associating with disabled individuals
October 19, 2005 by Ross Runkel at LawMemo
A lesser-known provision of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the one that forbids discrimination based on one's association with or relationship to a an individual with a disability.
The EEOC has published Questions and Answers About the Association Provision of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Examples of unlawful discrimination:
- refusing to hire someone because of an unfounded fear that the individual will be excessively absent or unproductive because of the need to care for a child with a disability.
- firing or refusing to hire someone based on concerns that the individual will acquire a condition from a family member or other individual with whom he has a relationship.
- refusing to provide health insurance for an employee's family member with a disability when the employer generally provides health insurance for employee dependents.
- harassing someone based on the individual's association with a person with a disability.
- providing lesser benefits to someone who has a relationship or association with an individual with a disability than it provides to all other employees.
- firing, refusing to hire, or denying any benefit or privilege of employment to someone because of concern that the employer's image will be negatively affected by an applicant's or employee's association with individuals with disabilities - for example, discriminating against an employee who provides volunteer services for people with HIV/AIDS or psychiatric disabilities is prohibited.
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Editor: Ross Runkel, Professor of Law Emeritus. email Ross@LawMemo.Com, Phone 503-399-8028. Copyright LawMemo, Inc.
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