Does the ADA apply to employer-sponsored benefits such as health insurance and short and long term disability?
According to the EEOC, the interplay between the nondiscrimination principles of the ADA and employer-sponsored benefits such as health insurance and short and long term disability can be very complex. The EEOC has two publications that may help employers understand how the ADA applies to employer-sponsored benefits: Interim Enforcement Guidance On the Application of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 to Disability-Based Distinctions In Employer Provided Health Insurance at http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/health.html. Employee Benefits at http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/benefits.html. 2. When employers offer long term disability insurance, can they condition the receipt of payments on termination of employment? Does this potentially violate the ADA’s requirement that employers consider holding jobs for people who take leave as an accommodation (assuming the employee has a disability and plans to return to work at some point)? Generally this practice does not violate the ADA. L
