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ADA has implications for food service industry

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This article originally appeared in the December 10, 2006 edition of Boca Raton News, www.bocanews.com. Reprinted with permission.

Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) with the intent of providing increased employment opportunities for persons with disabilities. The ADA accomplishes this goal by discouraging employers from acting based upon stereotypes and pre-conceived notions about persons with disabilities. The ADA is one of the more difficult discrimination statutes with which to comply. Firstly, the ADA is one of the few employment discrimination statutes that places affirmative obligations on employers, i.e., the duty to provide a reasonable accommodation. Secondly, the ADA overlaps with other statutes governing the workplace, such as the workers’ compensation act and the Family and Medical Leave Act. Employers in the food service industry also have the difficult task of balancing public health requirements with the ADA.

In their weekly Boca Raton News column, Hodgson Russ partners Larry Corman and Glenn Rissman offer a general overview of the ADA and how it impacts food service industry employees.