§12113 Defenses

Summary

An employer or other covered group can defend against a discrimination claim if a rule, test, or hiring requirement that excludes a person with a disability is shown to be needed for the job and cannot be met by reasonable accommodation. Qualification standards can include a rule that someone must not pose a direct threat to others’ health or safety. A covered entity must not use standards, tests, or hiring rules based on a person’s uncorrected vision unless it proves those rules are job-related and necessary. Religious organizations may hire people of their own faith for work tied to their religious activities and may require staff to follow their religious tenets. The Secretary of Health and Human Services had to, not later than 6 months after July 26, 1990, review diseases spread by handling food, publish a list of those diseases and how they spread, and share that information with the public. If a person has a disease on that list that spreads through food handling and the risk cannot be removed by reasonable accommodation, a covered entity may refuse to assign that person to food-handling work. State, county, or local food-safety rules that protect public health using the HHS list are not overridden by this law.