January 20, 2005 |
2005-R-0086 | |
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES | ||
By: George Coppolo, Chief Attorney | ||
You asked whether any state or federal law requires private employers to hire a certain percentage of people with disabilities.
SUMMARY
According to Nancy Alisberg, managing attorney, and Beth Leslie, legislative and regulations specialist of the Connecticut Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities (OPA), no state or federal law requires private employers to hire a certain percentage of people with disabilities. OPA is an independent state agency with statutory authority to defend and advance the civil and legal rights of people with disabilities.
It is illegal under state and federal law for private employers to discriminate against people with disabilities. People who believe they have been discriminated against may file a complaint with the Connecticut Human Rights and Opportunities Commission (CHRO).
CHRO
The CHRO is the state agency authorized to enforce civil and human rights laws in Connecticut. It investigates discrimination complaints, based on an individual's membership in a protected class, against certain entities in the areas of employment, housing, public accommodations, and credit transactions. Fifteen to twenty percent of the complaints filed with CHRO involve people who are disable. We have enclosed information about how to file a complaint with CHRO.
STATE LAW
Under state law it is illegal for an employer, employment agency, or union to discriminate against someone because of his present or past history of mental or physical disability, including, but not limited to, blindness, except for a bona fide occupational qualification or need (CGS 46a-51 et. seq. ). It is also illegal for:
1. any person, employer, labor organization, or employment agency to discharge, expel, or otherwise discriminate against anyone because he has opposed any discriminatory employment practice or because he has filed a complaint or testified or assisted in any CHRO proceeding; or
2. anyone to aid, abet, incite, compel, or coerce the doing of any act declared to be a discriminatory employment practice or to attempt to do so.
The law applies to employers with three or more employees and includes the state and municipalities. Under this law, a person is physically disabled if he has any chronic physical handicap, infirmity or impairment, whether congenital or resulting from bodily injury, organic processes, or changes, or from illness, including, but not limited to, epilepsy, deafness or hearing impairment, or reliance on a wheelchair or other remedial appliance or device. A person has a mental disability if he has a record of, or is regarded as having one or more mental disorders, as defined in the most recent edition of the American Psychiatric Association's "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders".
FEDERAL LAW
The federal law is called the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). ADA is a wide-ranging civil rights statute that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities – similar to the protections given to women and minorities under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U. S. C. A. § 12101 et. seq. ). Title 1 of the ADA protects individuals with disabilities from employment discrimination (if they are able to perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation).
A person has a disability if he:
1. has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities;
2. has a record or history of such an impairment; or
3. is perceived or regarded as having such an impairment.
Title 1 of the ADA bars employment discrimination in the public and private sectors and in state and local governments. It bans discrimination and requires reasonable accommodation in recruiting, hiring, employing, promoting, and training qualified workers with disabilities. Reasonable accommodation means any modification or adjustment to the work environment or circumstances under which a position is customarily performed, enabling a qualified individual with a disability to perform the essential functions of the position.
The enclosed information discusses in more detail how the ADA works and how someone can file a complaint.
GC: dw