The ADAAA

Faced with the narrow reading of the original provisions, Congress passed the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA).  These amendments were designed to confront much of the caselaw that had severely limited the application of the original ADA.  The key definitional provisions added an explicit listing of major life activities; a section on the ameliorative effects of mitigating measures; and a re-definition of what it means to be ‘regarded as’ disabled.  The initial definition of disability remains unchanged, but the language of the statute now explicitly requires that it “be construed in favor of broad coverage of individuals,” thereby overruling the “strict interpretation” language in the Toyota case.

The amendments went into effect in January 2009.  Courts uniformly held that the amendments did not have retroactive effect, and therefore continued to issue decisions in cases filed prior to that date applying the old strict interpretation of the statute. 

Note in particular that the amendments allow for temporary disabilities that are not transitory.  This, together with the move toward broad rather than strict construction should expand the scope of protection for people with work injuries. The amendments also required the EEOC to promulgate extensive regulations. These rules can be found at 29 C.F.R. Part 1630; both the rules and the Appendix are worth reading if this is an area that interests you.