New ADAAA Regulations

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently approved final regulations under the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sent OMB the regulations at the end of 2010, they were approved in Mid-March 2011, and imminent publication in the Federal Register is anticipated.  Consistent with Congress’s announced intent in the ADAAA, the new rules will expand the meaning of “disability” under federal law. Through the new and expansive regulations and increased litigation based on them, the EEOC plans to ensure that employers shift the focus from the narrow question of whether an individual meets the definition of disabled, to the broader issue of reasonable accommodation.