The answer is that cancer, whether active or in remission, should be a covered disability under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). Under final regulations issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on March 25, 2011, cancer is presumptively a covered disability under the ADA. The EEOC provided elsewhere in the regulations that an illness that would be disability when active would also be a covered disability when in remission. But what this means is that a person with cancer has some protection under the ADA with respect to his or her job; the question then is what degree or kind of protection.
Lexington, Kentucky disability lawyer Robert Abell represents individuals subjected to disability discrimination; contact him at 859-254-7076.
