A federal civil rights law that bans disability-based discrimination and requires reasonable access and accommodation.

Federal means it applies across the country, not just in one state or one kind of workplace. Civil rights law means it is about equal treatment, not charity and not special favors. Disability-based discrimination covers obvious conduct, like refusing to hire someone because of a medical condition, and less obvious conduct, like punishing a worker for needing modified duties, extra leave, or accessible equipment. Reasonable access and accommodation means employers, government agencies, and many businesses have to make practical changes unless doing so would cause an undue hardship or create a direct safety risk that cannot be reduced.

For work, the key part is Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as broadened by the ADA Amendments Act of 2008. It usually applies to employers with 15 or more employees. A worker still has to be able to perform the essential functions of the job, with or without a reasonable accommodation. The law does not force an employer to ignore real safety problems, but it also does not let them hide bias behind lazy assumptions about injury, pain, mobility limits, PTSD, or medical restrictions.

In South Carolina, a job-bias claim under the ADA is commonly filed with the EEOC, and because the state has a fair-employment agency, the filing deadline is often 300 days. In an injury claim, the ADA can matter when a worker is fired after a crash injury, denied return-to-work adjustments, or retaliated against after asking for accommodation.