Rocky Mountain ADA Center Informs Caregivers of Employment Rights and Protections

PRLog (Press Release) - Nov. 14, 2012 - (Colorado Springs, Colo.) –In recognition of National Caregivers Month, the Rocky Mountain ADA Center (http://www.adainformation.org/) is bringing awareness to the issue of caregivers’ employment rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA Center provides information to individuals and organizations throughout a six state region including Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

According to the Family Care Alliance (http://www.caregiver.org/), a caregiver is anyone who provides assistance to someone else who, to some degree, needs help performing the daily tasks essential to living a normal life. Caregiving responsibilities extend not only to spouses and children, but also to parents and other elderly family members or relatives with disabilities. More than 65 million Americans provide daily care and support to their loved ones, and nearly six in ten of these caregivers are employed.

With caregivers spending an average of 20 hours per week providing care, many encounter work-related difficulties due to their roles as both an employee and caregiver. “Working caregivers are not only required to juggle the demands of their own work environments, but also to manage their caregiving responsibilities at home,” said Jana Burke, the director of the Rocky Mountain ADA Center (http://www.adainformation.org/). This dual-role situation can result in a working caregiver turning down a promotion, choosing early retirement or giving up work entirely.

Fortunately, the ADA provides protections for employees with caregiving responsibilities.“ The ADA not only protects the rights of individuals with disabilities, but extends that coverage to their caregivers,” Burke expressed.

In addition to prohibiting discrimination against a qualified worker because of his or her own disability, the ADA also prohibits discrimination against workers who have a relationship or association with someone with a disability.

Burke advises caregivers of people with disabilities to know their rights under Title I of the ADA, which prohibits an employer from treating a worker less favorably based on stereotypical assumptions about the worker’s ability to perform job duties satisfactorily while also providing care to a relative or other individual with a disability. The ADA states that:

·         An employer may not discriminate against individuals because of their known relationship or association with persons who have disabilities.

“It’s important for employers to hire candidates based on qualifications and skills, not unfounded generalizations and stereotypes,” Burke stressed. For example, an employer may not refuse to hire a job applicant whose wife has a disability because the employer assumes that the applicant would have to use frequent leave and arrive late due to his responsibility to care for his wife.

If you are an employer and would like to learn more about caregivers’ protections, or feel that your caregiver rights under the ADA have been violated, you can receive assistance by:

·         Contacting the Rocky Mountain ADA Center to learn your rights and responsibilities under the ADA

·         Exploring ADA compliance resources for business owners and operators at http://adainformation.org/business

·         Visiting http://adainformation.org/disability-rights to learn more about caregiver’s employee rights

To contact the ADA Center directly, e-mail adainfo@adainformation.org or call (800) 949-4232.

About the Rocky Mountain ADA Center

The Rocky Mountain ADA Center is operated by Meeting the Challenge, Inc. and provides information, training and informal guidance to individuals and organizations with rights and responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Center is one of 10 regional centers funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, a division of the U.S. Department of Education, and serves a six-state region including Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. For more information, visit www.adainformation.org.