The Americans with Disabilities Act: a decision tree for social services administrators

The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act has had a profound influence on social workers and social services administrators in virtually all work settings. Because of the multiple elements of the act, however, assessing the validity of claims can be a somewhat arduous and complicated task. This article provides a "decision tree" for administrators to assist with the evaluation of claims. This decision tree allows people who are considering the validity of an ADA claim to break the decision-making process into discrete steps that can be considered separately and sequentially. These steps include employee and disability status, employer knowledge of the disability, employee qualification for the job, the provision of accommodations, the adverse actions that may be included in a claim, valid employer rationales for adverse action, and the procedural elements required for a successful ADA claim. Issues that are important in each step are discussed.