Americans with Disabilities Act Litigation and Musculoskeletal-Related Impairments: Implications for Work Re-Entry

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was designed, in part, to assist in work re-entry for the disabled. ADA-related complaints that are more difficult to resolve and consequently reach the litigation stage may provide useful insights into the challenges associated with the re-integration of disabled workers into the workplace. The present study identified patterns of impairments and areas of dispute from all ADA litigation (n = 189) between 1990 to 1996. While HIV/AIDS was the most common single impairment category (18.8%), combined musculoskeletal-related (i.e., back and upper extremity) impairments comprised the largest group of impairments (23.4% of total) involved in litigation. The top two areas of dispute were termination and alleged failure to provide reasonable accommodation, respectively. The distribution of musculoskeletaland nonmusculoskeletal-related cases were similar for these two areas of dispute. These findings highlight the direction upon which effective work re-entry strategies for workers with musculoskeletal-related disabilities must focus. Efforts to provide effective accommodation for these workers should improve retum-to-work outcomes and reduce the risk of litigation. Specific recommendations for such efforts are provided.