Kathryn Moss

Different Paths to Justice: The ADA, Employment, and Administrative Enforcement by the EEOC and FEPAs

Under Title I of the ADA, individuals who believe they have been subjected to disability-based employment discrimination may file an administrative charge. This article looks at who files charges; over what issues, and with what outcomes in both Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) field offices, and state and local fair employment practice agencies (FEPAs). The data for the article are computerized records of all ADA charges filed through March 31, 1998. The data indicate that individuals who rely on a FEPA to investigate their charge have a greater likelihood of obtaining a beneficial outcome than individuals who rely on the EEOC, but proportionately more individuals receiving a beneficial outcome are likely to receive monetary benefits from the EEOC than from a FEPA. Further, those who receive beneficial outcomes will probably receive greater monetary benefits from charges investigated by the EEOC than from those investigated by a FEPA.

Assessing Employment Discrimination Charges Filed by Individuals With Psychiatric Disabilities Under the Americans With Disabilities Act

This article presents findings from analyses of nationwide data on employment discrimination charges filed under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). In conducting the analyses, emphasis was placed on understanding the extent to which the ADA charge process differentially affects individuals with psychiatric disabilities. We found that 16.3% of individuals whose charges were closed as of June 30, 1995, received benefits from filing charges; individuals with psychiatric disabilities were only somewhat less likely to experience benefits from filing charges than were individuals with nonpsychiatric disabilities; individuals with schizophrenia had a strikingly lower benefit rate than all other individuals with other types of psychiatric disorders; and there was considerable variation among individuals with different kinds of nonpsychiatric disabilities in benefit rates.