Proposed Bills

February 26, 2006

Individual paper # 4

This week I came upon an article about a new proposed bill by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. His proposed bill would redefine the worker disabilities as a physical or mental impairment in a more broad sense. This was all initiated when Carey McClure, an employee at GM was rescinded a job offer after the examination doctors discovered his miss-alignment, and rated him incapable to do the job after 20 years of success in the workplace. The new proposed law would then affect employers tremendously as it would expand the definition of disability.

Reading through the article carefully, I related to the purpose of the proposed law but also understood the effects it would have and how negatively it can affect employers. I was not able to either agree or disagree with the bill. On one side, I believe it is something fair to do to all potentially disabled workers that would protect them from some of the harsh employer restrictions. And just to put it in Hoyers words, “Simply put the point of the ADA is not disability; it is the prevention of wrongful and unlawful discrimination”. It would provide great legal protection for the employees and would boast the moral of discouraged workers through out the nation.

On the other hand, the passing of this bill can bring a new headache to most employers, and a whole new list of responsibilities for management and HR managers. Business owners would then be forced to make accommodations for many of the workers and would create greater costs. I also believe that bringing in those types of workers into a company is not fair for the employer. It would not be a very productive work environment, and would slow down the rest of the workforce creating inefficiency in the company, a factor that a business cannot take and deal with. There are good and bad aspects to this bill and in my mind is too difficult to judge, which is why there has not been further action scheduled for the bill since...