ABA Family Legal Guide

Law and the Workplace

The Hiring Process

How does the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) affect an employer's ability to establish basic job requirements and work standards?

Job requirements and work standards that would screen out a person based on his or her disability must be job-related and consistent with business necessity. Under the ADA, in order to be job related, a job requirement must be related to the essential functions of the job and not merely an incidental aspect of job performance. For example, a job description for a receptionist position states that typing skills are required; however, the employer has never required the receptionist to type. This requirement, therefore, is not an essential function of the job, and requiring typing skills could have the effect of screening out a person with only one arm or a person who is a paraplegic.