ADA Discrimination Lawyer - Know Your Title I Rights

The ADA protects qualified individuals with disabilities — applicants and employees who can perform essential job functions with or without reasonable accommodation. A disability includes a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of such impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment.

Title I does not apply to every employer. Private employers, state and local governments, employment agencies, and labor organizations are covered when they have at least 15 employees. Federal executive agencies and the legislative branch follow related federal-sector rules enforced through different procedures.

Hyslip Legal handles employment law claims for workers whose Title I rights were violated at hiring, during employment, or at termination.

Many workers use the word "discrimination" for every unfair treatment tied to a disability. Under Title I, the legal theories are distinct:

A single case can include more than one theory. An ADA discrimination lawyer maps each claim to the evidence and files the right charges with the EEOC before deadlines expire.

Employers routinely overstep during hiring. Under 42 U.S.C. § 12112(d), disability-related inquiries and medical examinations are regulated by stage:

• Before an offer: Employers generally cannot ask whether you have a disability or require medical exams — except when asking whether you can perform job functions with or without accommodation.
• After a conditional offer: Medical exams are permitted if required of all entering employees in that job category, job-related, and consistent with business necessity.
• During employment: Exams must be job-related and consistent with business necessity; employers must keep medical information confidential in separate files.

If you were screened out after disclosing a condition or after an unlawful pre-offer questionnaire, that fact pattern can support an ADA discrimination charge.

Before suing in federal court, you generally must file a Charge of Discrimination with the EEOC. The filing deadline is usually 180 days from the discriminatory act, or 300 days where a state or local fair-employment agency enforces a law covering the same type of discrimination.

Your charge should identify ADA discrimination and any related theories — accommodation denial, retaliation, or harassment — so you do not waive claims you may want to pursue later. After a Notice of Right to Sue, you typically have 90 days to file suit.

Our EEOC process guide walks through charge drafting, investigation, and litigation timing.

Successful Title I claims can yield reinstatement, back pay, front pay, compensatory damages for emotional harm, punitive damages when conduct was especially malicious, and attorney's fees. For covered employers, combined compensatory and punitive damages are capped under 42 U.S.C. § 1981a based on employer size — from $50,000 (15–100 employees) up to $300,000 (more than 500 employees). Back pay is not subject to those caps.

Preserve evidence early: offer letters, job postings, performance reviews, accommodation emails, and witness names. Then request a free case review so we can evaluate your Title I claims before a deadline closes the door.