Whether a Generic Defect Is a Disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act: Preventing Genetic Discrimination by Employers
![handle is hein.journals/anohl1 and id is 115 raw text is: Whether a Genetic Defect Is a Disability Under
the Americans With Disabilities Act:
Preventing Genetic Discrimination
by Employers
Charles B. Gurd *
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)1 provides impor-
tant rights for individuals with disabilities. Title I of the ADA
prohibits employers from discriminating against qualified individu-
als with disabilities. Although Title I does not guarantee employ-
ment, it does give a qualified individual with a disability an equal
opportunity to a particular job.2 Under the Act, a qualified indi-
vidual with a disability is an individual with a disability who, with
or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential
functions of the job that the individual holds or desires.3 It is un-
lawful to discriminate against a qualified individual with a disabil-
ity in all aspects of the employment relationship including
recruitment, hiring, upgrading, promotion, transfer, termination,
rates of pay, or job assignments.4
The ADA and the corresponding regulations allow several de-
fenses to a charge of discrimination.5 An employer has a defense
to a charge of discrimination based on disparate treatment if the
employer can show that the action is justified by a legitimate,
nondiscriminatory reason.' An employer has a defense to a
charge of discrimination based on disparate impact if the employer
can show that a uniformly applied standard, criterion, or policy
[is] job-related and consistent with business necessity'7 and that a
* Charles B. Gurd received his Doctor of Jurisprudence from University of Dayton
School of Law in May of 1991, and his Masters in Public Affairs Health Systems Admin-
istration and Human Services Administration from Indiana University in Bloomington,
Indiana in 1985. He worked as a program analyst and health systems analyst at Ameri-
can Indian Health Care Association in Minnesota.
1. Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C.A. § 12101-12213 (West Supp.
1992).
2. CHARLES D. GOLDMAN, DISABILITY RIGHTs GUIDE 22 (2d ed. 1991).
3. 42 U.S.C.A. § 12111(8).
4. 29 C.F.R. § 1630.4 and appendix § 1630.4 (1992).
5. 29 C.F.R. § 1630.15 and appendix § 1630.15 (1992).
6. 29 C.F.R. § 1630.15(a).
7. Id. at 1630.15(c).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/anohl1&div=11&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most