It takes a big man to admit when he’s wrong. I’m about to be a big man.
A little over a year ago I engaged in a debate with Michael Moore of the Pennsylvania Labor & Employment Blog about whether the ADA Amendments Act would protect nicotine addiction as a disability. At the time, I wrote as follows:
Whether or not something is a disability with or without remedial measures, however, is only one step in the analysis. The next step is to determine whether that disability “materially restricts” (using the language of the ADAAA) a major life activity. What major life activity does smoking or nicotine addiction materially restrict? Breathing? Maybe, but only if one’s lungs are compromised from years of smoking. At that point, a bronchial disease might qualify as a disability, but how will allowing employees to smoke reasonably accommodate that disability? If anything, an employer’s anti-smoking initiatives present a better accommodation for an employee’s breathing problems.
After reviewing the proposed regulations implementing the ADAAA, I have changed my opinion. I now believe that the ADA can protect an employee’s nicotine addiction, but for different reasons than I previously discussed.
The ADA does not just protect employees’ disabilities, but also protects employees who are “regarded as” having a physical or mental impairment. Critically, an employee is now protected under the “regarded as” prong regardless of whether or not the impairment limits or is perceived to limit a major life activity, and regardless of whether the employer believes the individual was substantially limited in any major life activity. The coverage of this protection is extremely broad. The only exception to the “regarded as” prong is when the impairment is transitory (lasting or expected to last for six months or less) and minor. Examples of such uncovered impairments include a sprained wrist, a broken limb that is expected to heal, the common cold, and the seasonal flu. Employers do not have to make reasonable accommodations for “regarded as” disabilities, but are still prohibited from taking adverse actions because of them.
At the ABA Labor & Employment Conference last week, I had the opportunity to ask Peggy Mastroianni, EEOC Associate Legal Counsel and author of the ADAAA’s proposed regulations, if the EEOC has a position on the coverage of smoking under the ADA. Her answer was that there is no formal EEOC position. The EEOC’s silence notwithstanding, the “regarded as” prong of the new ADA is sufficiently broad to possibly encompass actions taken against employees pursuant to employer anti-smoking policies.
What does all of this mean for employers? Employees can claim that anti-smoking policies violate the ADA. Addiction is a protected disability. Diseases related to or caused by smoking (cancers, lung diseases, asthma, and other respiratory conditions, for example) are also protected disabilities. Employees will claim that an adverse action taken pursuant to an anti-smoking policy is being taken because the employer regards the employee as disabled. Adverse actions taken against employees because of smoking should now be viewed as high risk, at least until courts begin weighing in on this controversial issue.
Presented by Kohrman Jackson & Krantz, with offices in Cleveland and Columbus. For more information, contact Jon Hyman, a partner in our Labor & Employment group, at (216) 736-7226 or jth@kjk.com.