Adding Insult to Injury: Disability-Based Hostile Environment Under the ADA

It has long been recognized that a gender-based hostile work environment is actionable under Title VII. Courts have questioned whether or not there is a cause of action under the ADA for claims of disability-based hostile work environment. Three circuits have explicitly ruled that the ADA does prohi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEmployee Relations Law Journal Vol. 30; no. 2; p. 74
Main Author Massengill, Douglas
Format Trade Publication Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Aspen Publishers, Inc 01.10.2004
Subjects
Americans with Disabilities Act 1990-US
Disability
Discrimination
Employment
Evidence
Federal court decisions
Labor law
Language
State court decisions
Supervisors
Work environment
Workers with disabilities
United States > US
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Summary:It has long been recognized that a gender-based hostile work environment is actionable under Title VII. Courts have questioned whether or not there is a cause of action under the ADA for claims of disability-based hostile work environment. Three circuits have explicitly ruled that the ADA does prohibit disability-based harassment resulting in hostile environment. This article examines the rationale that has been used in reaching this conclusion, namely that ADA language concerning terms and conditions of employment is essentially identical to such language in Title VII, which has been used in determining that Title VII prohibits gender-based and race-based hostile environment. Two major attempts at showing hostile work environment have been to 1 show that the disabled individual suffered adverse work-related decisions (such as criticism of work performance) based on his/her disability or that the disabled individual was the subject of jokes, insults or other degrading behavior on the part of supervisors or other employees. This article describes representative decisions at both the district and appellate levels regarding the above attempts.
ISSN:0098-8898