ADA Compliance Training
What Is The ADA?
The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide qualified individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to benefit from the full range of employment-related opportunities available to others.
The ADA rules for employers and administrators are complex; it prohibits discrimination in recruitment, hiring, training, promotions, pay, social activities, and other privileges of employment. The ADA also restricts questions that can be asked about an individual's disability and requires employers to make certain reasonable accommodations.
Who Is Protected Under the ADA?
A "qualified individual" must be able to perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation. This determination requires individualized, case-by-case assessment. Individuals are "protected" if they:
- Have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities
- Have a record of such impairment
- Are regarded as having such impairment
Which Employers Must Comply With the ADA?
The ADA applies to:
- Private-sector employers with 15 or more employees
- State and local government agencies
- Employment agencies
- Labor unions
Covered employers must:
- Provide equal employment opportunity
- Avoid disability discrimination and harassment
- Engage in the interactive process
- Provide reasonable accommodations (unless undue hardship exists)
- Maintain medical confidentiality
- Avoid unlawful medical inquiries
ADA Compliance Training Classes - Instructor-Led And Online Options
Whether you need live instructor-led seminars, virtual training, or an online ADA Coordinator Certification program, our courses provide practical, legally sound, real-world guidance for managing disability accommodations and compliance risk.
What You Will Learn in Our ADA Compliance Training Classes
Our ADA Compliance Training Classes provide both basic and deep instruction on:
Basic Requirements
- Identifying Protected Individuals
- The ADA "Reasonable Accommodation" Requirements
- Job restructuring
- Medical Examinations
- ADA and employer-sponsored group health plans
- The ADA and mental disabilities
- How much medical information should you gather, if any?
- What about mental impairments that are hard to get a handle on?
- When is an impairment a safety threat?
- How much is too much accommodation, and when is it not enough
- Documenting the discussion
- When medical exams are permitted
- Post-offer vs. pre-employment testing rules
- Fitness-for-duty exams
- Drug testing distinctions
- Psychological testing boundaries
- When leave becomes an ADA accommodation
- Return-to-work coordination
- Fitness-for-duty overlap
- Managing safety threat determinations
Advanced Compliance: Conducting the Interactive Process
- How to initiate and document accommodation discussions
- What questions employers may legally ask
- Managing sensitive medical information
- When to request medical documentation
- Handling mental health accommodation requests
Advanced Compliance: Understanding Reasonable Accommodation Requirements
You will learn how to properly evaluate:
- Job restructuring
- Modified schedules
- Equipment modification
- Remote work consideration
- Reassignment to vacant positions
- Leave as an accommodation
Advanced Compliance: Integrating ADA With Other Laws
One of the most complex compliance areas is overlapping legal obligations. Our training explains how ADA interacts with:
Advanced Compliance: What NOT To Do
You also will learn what employers are NOT required to do, such as:
- Create new positions
- Eliminate essential job functions
- Lower performance standards
- Provide the employee's preferred accommodation if alternatives exist
Find ADA Compliance Guidelines Training Courses - Earn An ADA Coordinator Certification!
HR Training Center offers a number of ADA training courses, including in-person ADA seminars, ADA training webinars and audio conference, and online training courses to help you better understand and administer your ADA compliance requirements.
Ensure your organization meets federal ADA compliance requirements with our comprehensive ADA Compliance Training Classes. You can earn an ADA Coordinator certification with our online ADA Training and Certification classes. Either choose a "Recommended Program" listed herein or use the search box below to find ADA compliance training courses that meets your needs.
Best-Selling ADA Compliance Training:
Online Training Courses
Instructor-Led: Virtual/In-Person Seminars
Top FAQs
The program provides comprehensive training on compliance with the FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act), ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), and PWFA (Pregnant Workers Fairness Act). Topics include medical certifications, fitness-for-duty testing, return-to-work, reasonable accommodations, leave entitlement, overlapping laws (e.g. workers’ compensation, state family/medical leave), job and benefits restoration, documentation strategies, and more.
Find Seminars, Webinars, And Online Training In Your Area
More ADA Compliance Requirements
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination and harassment against qualified employees and applicants with disabilities, plus requires "reasonable accommodations" under certain circumstances.
Employers covered by the ADA have to make sure those individuals with disabilities have an equal opportunity to apply for jobs and to work in jobs for which they are qualified. As such, employers must provide an equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities to be promoted once they are working.
Employers also must provide equal access to benefits and privileges of employment that are offered to other employees, such as employer-provided health insurance or training, and ensure that individuals with disabilities are not harassed because of their disability.
Employers, however, are not required to create new jobs for individuals with disabilities, although nothing in the regulations would prohibit an employer from so doing.
Why ADA Training Is Critical for Employers
Failure to comply with ADA regulations can result in:
- EEOC investigations
- Litigation and settlements
- Reputational damage
- Costly accommodation disputes
- Mismanaged medical documentation
Proactive ADA compliance training reduces risk and builds defensible processes. If you are responsible for accommodation decisions or employment compliance, ADA training is essential.
Some Key ADA Compliance Issues
ADA Training For Handling Reasonable Accommodation Requests
Under the ADA, employers are required to provide "reasonable accommodations" to qualified employees with disabilities, unless doing so would pose an undue hardship.
An ADA reasonable accommodation is assistance or changes to a position or workplace that will enable an employee to do his or her job despite having a disability.
Essentially, employers covered by the ADA have to make sure those individuals with disabilities have an equal opportunity to apply for jobs and to work in jobs for which they are qualified. Employers must provide an equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities to be promoted once they are working.
ADA Reasonable Accommodations may include any of the following:
- Making existing facilities accessible
- Job restructuring
- Part-time or modified work schedules
- Acquiring or modifying equipment
- Changing tests, training materials, or policies
- Providing qualified readers or interpreters
- Reassignment to a vacant position
The employer is not required to:
- Create a position for a qualified individual with a disability
- Offer the "best" accommodation available
- Lower performance standards or waive disciplinary policies
- Eliminate or transfer essential job functions
In some instances, before addressing the merits of the accommodation request, the employer needs to determine if the individual's medical condition meets the ADA definition of "disability", which is a prerequisite for the individual to be entitled to a reasonable accommodation under FMLA law.
Medical Examinations And The ADA
A "medical examination" is a procedure or test that seeks information about an individual's physical or mental impairments or health.
Examples of medical examinations include:
- Blood pressure screening
- Vision test conducted or analyzed by an ophthalmologist or optometrist
- Range-of-motion tests
- Pulmonary functions tests
- Psychological test designed to identify a mental disorder or impairment
- Diagnostic procedures such as X-rays
- Cholesterol screening
The following factors are helpful in determining whether a procedure or test is medical:
- Is it administered by a health care professional or someone trained by a health care professional?
- Are the results interpreted by a health care professional or someone trained by a health care professional?
- Is it designed to reveal impairments to physical or mental health?
- Is the employer trying to determine the applicant's physical or mental health or impairments?
- Is it invasive (for example, does it require the drawing of blood, urine or breath)?
- Does it measure an applicant's performance of a task, or does it measure the applicant's physiological responses to performing the task?
- Is it normally given in a medical setting (for example, a health care professional's office)?
- Is medical equipment used?
Examples of tests that are not considered medical examinations:
- Tests for current use of illegal drugs (even though such tests require laboratory analysis of urine, blood, and/or hair samples)
- Physical agility tests (i.e. simulated job actions such as lifting from floor level)
- Psychological tests that measure personality traits (i.e., honesty, work habits, etc.)
- Polygraph examinations
If the existence of a disability arises, the employer still has the duty to reasonably accommodate the disability. The test must be required of all employees in the same job category.
Job Restructuring
One of the more common types of reasonable accommodation is job restructuring. Basically, this means reallocating or redistributing the marginal, or non-essential, functions of the job that the employee is unable to do because of his disability.
Employers may require the qualified individual with a disability to take on marginal job functions that he or she can perform. Employers, however, are not required to reallocate or restructure the essential functions of the job.
ADA Compliance Frequently Asked Questions
What is a reasonable accommodation under the ADA? A reasonable accommodation is any change to the work environment or job duties that enables a qualified employee with a disability to perform essential job functions, provided it does not create undue hardship.
When can an employer request medical documentation? An employer may request medical documentation when the disability or need for accommodation is not obvious, but requests must be limited and job-related.
Does ADA require indefinite leave? No. Indefinite leave is generally not considered reasonable, but extended leave beyond FMLA may qualify depending on circumstances.
Can ADA apply even if FMLA does not? Yes. ADA coverage may apply independently of FMLA eligibility requirements.
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