WASHINGTON (Nov. 6, 2001)—The Supreme Court is preparing to hear Nov. 7 arguments on whether the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals misconstrued how the term “disability” should be defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Business groups have leapt to the defense of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky Inc., saying the appeals court erred in ruling that Ella Williams was disabled because she couldn't do repetitive work with arms extended above the shoulder level.
“The Sixth Circuit's construction would bring a broad additional segment of the workforce within the protection of the ADA, imposing unwarranted costs on employers while doing little to advance the ADA's goal of increasing opportunities for the severely impaired,” said the amicus brief filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Trucking Associations, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers.