NEW LAW SETS GUIDELINES FOR EMPLOYERS OF DISABLED PEOPLE

Christina Maury teaches Indiana businesses and organizations how to comply with law that protects the disabled.

While the Americans With Disabilities Act has been in effect for only one year, the idea of protecting the rights of the disabled is not so new. According to Christina Maury, ADA is really a revision of the Rehabiliation Act of 1973.

"The Rehabilitation Act said that if you were an employer and you received any federal money, you had to have at least some disabled people working for you, because that was civil rights. It was affirmative action, a quota program," explains Maury.

"Well, in ADA, it says that we don't care whether you get federal money or not, as long as you have 25 or more employees and there is a qualified person who is disabled who wants to work in your business, you cannot discriminate against them."

Wide-sweeping applications

In addition to employment, the ADA also covers public accommodations, so disabled people can use areas and businesses just like anyone else, and telecommunications, so they can easily communicate with others.

"ADA is the most wide-sweeping piece of legislation that has ever been written," Maury says. "It takes into (account) every area of life and how it relates and how it affects disabled people."

An employer must distinguish between the essential functions and the marginal functions of a job. If a disabled person applies for that job, and he or she is qualified to do the essential functions with or without a reasonable accommodation, the employer cannot discriminate against him or her.

"Before, that's where they would get you," Maury says. "Well you know, we'd like to have you, but you're blind and we need someone who can drive to McDonald's at lunchtime and pick up lunches.' Well, that's not an integral part of the job, so they can't do that any more."

Every service, every opportunity, every benefit that is offered to other employees must also be made available to disabled employees.

Maury explains that this can get specific.

Say an employer decides to have a Christmas party, and one of the employees is hearing impaired, Maury said. The employer needs to provide a way for that person to communicate with others at the party, just like other people are communicating with others.

"If it means (hiring) an interpreter, then you need to hire one to go to the Christmas party, because that's part of the job _ one of the benefits of having that job," she states.

Since the act has been passed, employers have had to review job descriptions for positions that are open.

Maury shared one example: "If I were applying for a typing position, and the job description said, `Must be able to type 60 words a minute' . . . and I could only type 43, I wouldn't be qualified.

"But if I went into that office and found that two or three other typists were only typing 43 words a minute, even though the job description said that they had to type at 60 also, and they let them work but they didn't let me work, that would be discriminating."

An employer doesn't have to try to predict what accommodations are necessary so that a qualified disabled person can do the job; it's the job applicant's responsibility.

If an employer cannot afford the accommodation, then the employee can pay a portion of the expense and still get the job.

The law is trying to get employers to stop labeling which jobs disabled people can or can't do.

"We have to deal with abilities, not disabilities," she says.

On the other hand, there is a huge preventive piece in the legislation saying that if a person is not doing their job, they're not protected, Maury explained.

An employer can be fined for any kind of discrimination against the disabled.

If it can be proven that an employer denied a person a job because of a disability, the employer can be fined anywhere from $50,000 to $300,000.

Although the law is filled with details, some areas are still unclear.

One is insurance coverage, where an insurance company says it won't cover a person with "a pre-existing condition." "What insurance is doing is just blocking and blanking everybody (with any disability) out," she states.

Another troublesome area is workers' compensation. "The law in Indiana says there is no responsibility that the employer would keep a job (open) for someone who's been hurt on the job _ they can fill it whenever they want.

"The ADA says you can't discriminate against somebody in their job just because they're disabled, so there's some conflict there," Maury points out.

Any place that provides goods or services to the public must be accessible, according to the law. This means adding handicapped parking, installing elevators, widening doors, lowering drinking fountains and other accommodations.

Don't have to be expensive

These things aren't always expensive. "You don't have to go in and put automatic doors on everything," Maury says. "If you can't afford to do it, then you could put a buzzer by your doorway that says `ring for assistance' and the accessibility symbol, and go open the door for them _ that's an accommodation."

Maury says fines for structural problems are considerable _ "like $50,000 for the first one and $100,000 for the ones thereafter, if it's been shown that they have acted in bad faith."

The point of requiring public accommodations is so that the disabled can assist themselves. Maury explains, "It's independence, empowerment _ And all we're asking for is a level playing field _ equal opportunity."

If disabled people can get into stores, they will spend money. If they can get jobs, they won't be receiving Social Security disability payments.

Maury said that in 1990, $570 million was spent on Social Security disability.

"I would much rather have more of my own money that I have earned than having it going to taxes," Maury says. "But we have so many expenses in this country; we have to take care of so many people.

"Well, there are a lot of people who would take care of themselves if the doors were open," she continued.