Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, as amended in 2008, an employee is treated as disabled if he is “regarded as” suffering from a physical or mental impairment by the employer—the amendment changed the law so that it is no longer necessary to show that the perceived disability limited or was perceived to limit a major life activity. Authority under the pre-2008 version of the statute had required pleading and proof that the employer subjectively believed that the plaintiff was substantially limited in a major life activity. That limitation is no longer applicable under the 2008 amended version of the statute. All that the employee need plead or prove is that the employer regarded him as physically or mentally impaired.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (Tashima, J.); September 17, 2018; 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 26221