That change has given juries the power to hand down huge awards to plaintiffs, and they have occasionally done so. Such awards, however, are extremely rare and are usually reduced on appeal. Few cases, of course, ever go to a jury. Most were toward the low end. Complying with laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act is prohibitively expensive for companies.
Most studies suggest the opposite.
The cost for those with mental impairments was virtually nothing. While these figures represent direct costs only, like lowering a desk to ease the discomfort of someone with back problems, preliminary results of a new study by Blanck indicate that indirect costs, such as time spent by human resources staff, are also minimal. Recent court rulings have actually made it tougher for employees to claim discrimination by narrowing the definition of who is protected by employment laws. Courts have found, for example, that if an employee's mental illness is controlled through medication or his or her hearing is improved by a hearing aid, then the person is not disabled under the law. Likewise, federal appeals courts have ruled consistently that workers filing age discrimination suits must show that their employer intentionally discriminated against them, not simply that a corporate policy, such as one resulting in more older workers being laid off, was harsher on them than on younger employees.