Expanding ADA coverage to employee benefit plans: recent judicial and administrative developments

The Americans with Disabilities Act has been heralded as the Emancipation Proclamation for persons with disabilities. The purpose of the law is to provide nothing less than a "clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities." Precisely how the nondiscrimination principles of the ADA will be applied to an employer's provision of health benefits to its employees has been the subject of much debate since the Act's passage in 1990. Although the statutory language and the legislative history support a limited application of the ADA to benefits issues, recent court decisions and enforcement actions by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission indicate that the ADA may have a much more profound impact in the area of benefits plan design and administration. Moreover, as benefits administrators take a much more active role in managing health care decisions, the ADA may become a vehicle for legal challenges to those decisions that affect the disabled.