Could gambling addiction become an ADA-protected ‘disability’?
Just in time for March Madness … the new draft of a prominent American Psychiatric Association (APA) manual recommends expanding the category of “mental disabilities” to include new disorders, including binge eating and pathological gambling.
Currently, the ADA specifically says employers don’t have to accommodate certain disorders, including pyromania, kleptomania and compulsive gambling.
Inclusion of these new disabilities in the APA manual—which wouldn’t be finalized for at least three years—wouldn’t automatically mean they’d also be considered disabilities under the ADA. But experts say it could open the door to new lawsuits and potentially sympathetic juries. Stay tuned.
Currently, the ADA specifically says employers don’t have to accommodate certain disorders, including pyromania, kleptomania and compulsive gambling.
Inclusion of these new disabilities in the APA manual—which wouldn’t be finalized for at least three years—wouldn’t automatically mean they’d also be considered disabilities under the ADA. But experts say it could open the door to new lawsuits and potentially sympathetic juries. Stay tuned.
