Catherwood LibraryILR School

In a 7-2 decision yesterday, the US Supreme Court adopted a narrow definition of Congress' use of the word "employee" in the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act requiring businesses to accommodate and not discriminate against disabled workers. At issue was whether partners and other shareholders in small firms count as employees when determining whether a firm falls within the ADA's exclusion of businesses with fewer than fifteen employees from the duty to accommodate disabled workers. Dissenting Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer criticized the majority decision not to count most partners in professional firms as "employees," as an over-emphasis on narrow issues of ownership when business size and ability to accommodate are the true issues.