2009 Americans With Disabilities Update (Live Replay)
This program will review the most substantial changes to the Americans With Disabilities Act in the past year, with particular focus on the recent ADA Amendments Act. The amendments reversed major Supreme Court decisions, revised basic definitions under the act, denied employers certain defenses, and left open a host of new questions. Among other changes, the amendments changed definition of disability, reasonable accommodation and direct threat. The program will also provide a case law update in the aftermath of the amendments. This program is essential learning for attorneys advising employers or engaged in employment litigation.
· Review of major ADA changes made by the Amendments Act
· How the new law changes current practice
· Changes to definitions of disability, reasonable accommodation, and direct threat
· Case law update
· EEOC rulemaking after the amendments
Christopher Kuczynski is Assistant Legal Counsel and Director of the Americans with Disabilities Act Policy Division at the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In this position, he supervises the development of policy guidance interpreting Title I of the ADA. Mr. Kuczynski also advises EEOC’s field offices, Office of General Counsel, and Chair and Commissioners on ADA investigations and litigation. From October 2003 until April 2004, Mr. Kuczynski was Associate Director for the White House Domestic Policy Council, coordinating activities across the federal government related to the New Freedom Initiative, the President’s comprehensive strategy for the full integration of people with disabilities into all aspects of American life. Mr. Kuczynski also served for nine months as Special Assistant to EEOC Chair Cari Dominguez, advising her on issues related to all of the EEO laws; worked as a trial attorney for the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice from July 1993 through February 1997; and worked for three years as a litigation associate with a major Philadelphia law firm. He has a B.A. in English from Villanova University, a J.D. from Temple Law School, and an LL.M. from the Yale Law School, where his course of study focused on constitutional law and civil rights issues.
Neal D. Mollen is partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, LLP, where he is chair of the office’s employment law department and co-chair of the firm’s appellate practice group. He represents employers and employer associations as parties and amici curiae in labor and employment law matters before the Supreme Court of the United States, the federal courts of appeals and state appellate courts throughout the country. Mr. Mollen has been listed by Chambers USA as one of the preeminent employment lawyers in the nation and the Washington Post recently called him one of Washington’s “Superlawyers.” He serves as an adjunct professor of labor law at the Georgetown University Law Center, is a contributing author to the American Bar Association’s Employee Benefits Law treatise, and authored the chapter on Adverse Impact in the ABA/BNA’s Employment Discrimination Law treatise, often known as “Lindemann and Grossman.” Mr. Mollen received his B.S. from Virginia Commonwealth University and his J.D. from the University of Richmond Law School.
