What if I associate with individuals with disabilities – does the ADA offer any protection?
Generally, again, yes. This is one of the lesser known, and least litigated, claims of disability discrimination. It was originally designed to protect two broad classes of employees: 1) friends and family of victims of HIV/AIDS, and 2) friends and family of those diagnosed with other chronic and terminal medical conditions. While the situation is slowly improving, there used to be a strong sense in the workplace that if you hang around with individuals with HIV/AIDS, then you must be either gay, lesbian, or have the condition yourself. This false fear motivated the firings of many individuals over the past 20-30 years just because an employee was friends with or hung around with, someone diagnosed with HIV or AIDS. As such, the “association provisions” of the ADA were designed to ensure that employees – who weren’t disabled – weren’t fired because of the employer’s unreasonable fears and stereotypes about certain illnesses. This provision also provides great protection to family membe
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- What if I associate with individuals with disabilities - does the ADA offer any protection?
