42 U.S.C. §§ 12112, 12117
ADA Title I: disability discrimination and failure to accommodate at work
A federal claim in United States district courts · Last verified August 26, 2026
Title I is the employment title of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and it runs on borrowed machinery. Its procedures, its deadlines, its damages caps, and its fee rules all come from the employment-discrimination statute next door. What is distinctly its own is the accommodation duty — and a sovereign-immunity rule that closes the courthouse to state employees seeking money.
What the claim is
An employer treated you worse because of a disability, or refused to accommodate one. The recurring patterns:
- Discriminatory discharge after a diagnosis, an injury, or a leave.
- Failure to hire once the disability surfaced.
- Failure to accommodate — a schedule change, equipment, reassignment, or leave that would have let you do the job.
- Harassment severe or pervasive enough to change the conditions of employment.
The disability does not have to be visible or permanent. Since 2008 the definition has been read broadly on purpose.
Where the right comes from
An express prohibition:
No covered entity shall discriminate against a qualified individual on the basis of disability in regard to job application procedures, the hiring, advancement, or discharge of employees ... and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment.
A separate section adopts the enforcement scheme of the employment-discrimination statute wholesale — which is where the EEOC charge requirement, the damages caps, and the remedies all come from.
What a plaintiff has to prove
Three elements:
- A disability — an actual impairment substantially limiting a major life activity, a record of one, or being regarded as having one.
- Qualified — able to perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation.
- An adverse action because of the disability, or a failure to accommodate.
Element two carries more weight than it looks. The fight is usually over what the essential functions are, and whether an accommodation would let the employee perform them. An employer's job description is evidence of essential functions; it is not the last word.
The familiar burden-shifting framework is a merits device for sorting evidence, not a pleading requirement. A complaint has to make discrimination plausible, nothing more.
One recent change is migrating into this claim. Muldrow v. City of St. Louis (2024) held that an employee challenging a forced transfer under the employment-discrimination statute need show only some harm, not significant harm. Because Title I borrows that statute's framework, circuits are now working out how far the lower threshold carries over. Check your circuit before relying on it.
How long you have to file
No deadline of its own — it borrows the employment-discrimination clocks, and they are short.
File an EEOC charge within 180 days of the discriminatory act, extended to 300 days where your state has its own fair employment agency. Then, once the EEOC issues a right-to-sue notice, you have 90 days to file suit.
Accrual runs from the discrete act — the day the decision was communicated. For pay discrimination, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 applies here too: each discriminatory paycheck restarts the clock. That statute was Congress overriding a Supreme Court decision, and anything written before 2009 on pay accrual is unreliable.
A failure-to-accommodate claim is worth thinking about separately, because a refusal can be renewed — and a fresh refusal can start a fresh clock.
What has to happen before you file
An EEOC charge, then a right-to-sue letter, then suit within 90 days.
Character of the requirement: a mandatory claim-processing rule, not a jurisdictional bar. Under Fort Bend County v. Davis an employer that fails to raise the defect promptly forfeits it. That does not make the charge optional — an employer that raises it on time wins — but a court will not dismiss on its own motion years into the case.
The 15-employee threshold works the same way: it is a merits element of the claim, not a limit on the court's jurisdiction, under Arbaugh v. Y&H Corp.
Who can be sued — and who cannot
Employers with 15 or more employees. Below that, Title I does not reach, though many state statutes do.
Not individual supervisors. Like the employment-discrimination statute it borrows from, Title I imposes liability on the employer alone. (Contrast the wage-and-hour statute, where a manager with operational control can be personally liable — the same workplace, opposite rules.)
State employers cannot be sued for damages. In Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama v. Garrett the Supreme Court held Congress did not validly abrogate state sovereign immunity for Title I. A state employee can still seek prospective injunctive relief against state officials, and can still sue under a state statute — but the damages door is shut. This is the single biggest structural difference between Title I and the other employment claims, and it surprises people every time.
Common defenses
Not disabled within the statute, or not qualified — unable to perform essential functions even with accommodation.
Undue hardship — the accommodation would impose significant difficulty or expense given the employer's size and resources.
Direct threat — the employee poses a significant risk to health or safety that accommodation cannot reduce.
Business necessity and job-related qualification standards.
A legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for the decision.
Failure to exhaust, and for state employers, sovereign immunity.
What the claim pays
Back pay, front pay, reinstatement, and injunctive relief.
Compensatory and punitive damages are available, capped by employer size, and the cap is combined — compensatory and punitive together, per complaining party:
| Employees | Combined cap |
|---|---|
| 15 to 100 | $50,000 |
| 101 to 200 | $100,000 |
| 201 to 500 | $200,000 |
| More than 500 | $300,000 |
Back pay and front pay sit outside the cap. Punitive damages are unavailable against a government employer. And there is a defense specific to this claim: an employer that made good-faith efforts to accommodate, in consultation with the employee, can defeat compensatory and punitive damages altogether.
Attorney's fees go to a prevailing plaintiff as a matter of course. A prevailing defendant recovers only where the suit was frivolous, unreasonable, or groundless.
Jury trial where damages are sought.
What people get wrong
"I can sue my supervisor personally." No. Only the employer is liable under Title I.
"My employer has to give me the accommodation I asked for." No. The duty is to provide a reasonable accommodation, and the employer may choose among effective options.
"My condition is controlled by medication, so I'm not covered." Wrong since 2008. Mitigating measures — other than ordinary glasses and contacts — are not considered when deciding whether someone is disabled.
"I work for the state, so I'll sue for damages." You cannot, after Garrett.
"There's no accommodation duty until I file paperwork." The duty is triggered by notice of the need, not by a form. But telling the employer clearly is still the right move.
"I need a serious, tangible job detriment." The threshold may now be lower after Muldrow — though how far that carries into this claim is still being worked out.
Where it came from
The ADA passed in 1990. Title I is the part that reaches employment.
Its defining moment came eighteen years later, and it is a textbook instance of Congress overriding the Supreme Court. The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 rejected two decisions that had narrowed "disability" almost out of existence — one holding that mitigating measures count when deciding if you are disabled, the other imposing a demanding standard for what "substantially limits" means. The amendments directed that "disability" be construed broadly, excluded mitigating measures from the analysis, and made a "regarded as" claim turn only on whether the employer acted because of a perceived impairment.
The practical effect was to move these cases off the threshold question of who counts as disabled and onto the questions that matter: what the job requires, and what the employer did about it.
Common questions
How long do I have to file an ADA employment claim?
File an EEOC charge within 180 days of the discriminatory act, or 300 days if your state has its own fair employment agency. After the right-to-sue letter you have 90 days to file suit.
Can I sue my employer if it has fewer than 15 employees?
Not under ADA Title I. Many state disability statutes reach smaller employers, so check your state.
Can I sue a state agency for disability discrimination in employment?
Not for damages. The Supreme Court held in Garrett that Congress did not validly abrogate state sovereign immunity for Title I. Prospective injunctive relief against state officials remains available, as do state-law claims.
Does my employer have to give me the exact accommodation I request?
No. The employer must provide a reasonable and effective accommodation, but it may choose among options. It can refuse only by showing undue hardship or a direct threat.
Am I still covered if medication controls my condition?
Yes. Since the 2008 amendments, mitigating measures other than ordinary eyeglasses and contact lenses are not considered when deciding whether you have a disability.