Document Type

Article

Publication Title

North Carolina Law Review

Abstract

This Article explains that all employment discrimination laws not only condemn the subjugation of defined groups, they also impose significant redistributive costs. The Article uses the Americans with Disabilities Act as an example to examine how much redistribution is proper under the rubric of nondiscrimination. The most recent ADA cases, most notably Sutton v. United Air Lines, reveal more starkly than prior employment discrimination case law the tension between the nondiscrimination command and the redistributive side of employment opportunity law. The doctrinal difficulties faced by courts interpreting the ADA stem directly from the inability of the anti-discrimination model to control or focus the fundamentally redistributivist command of the ADA. This Article analyzes the Supreme Court's confrontation with the open-ended statutory terms of "major life activity" and ''reasonable accommodation'" and analyzes the most recent ADA employment decisions as an attempt to create a limited and responsible regulatory framework out of the statute. This Article then considers what tools courts need to fulfill this regulatory function and asks whether courts are the proper institutional actors to carry out this task.

First Page

307

Volume

79

Publication Date

2001

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