Abstract
BACKGROUND: Approximately 25% of working-aged Americans with disabilities work full or part time, yet still face discrimination despite the passing of the American's with Disabilities Act (ADA) over 20 years ago.
OBJECTIVES: To determine if the proportion of allegations of ADA Title I workplace discrimination with merit closed at any year between 1993 and 2008 differs among Whites, African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians; to determine if there was a change over time from 1993 to 2008 in merit closure rate within each race/ethnicity group; and to determine whether changes over time between 1993 and 2008 in the merit closure rate differ among the race/ethnicity groups.
METHODS: Logistic regression was used for this cross-sectional panel study to model the merit closure rate for each ethnic group from 1993 to 2008 using 318,587 charging parties from the EEOC database.
RESULTS: All ethnic groups exhibited significant changes over time in the merit closure rate. There were significant differences in the closure rates among the race/ethnicity groups specifically at closure years 1995–2000, 2002, 2003, and 2006. Finally, there was evidence that the trends in merit closure rates over time differed significantly among the race/ethnicity groups.
CONCLUSIONS: There was significant evidence that the proportion of claims closed with merit was significantly different among the racial/ethnicity groups.