Business hails Supreme Court ruling on disabilities

WASHINGTON (Jan. 8)—The U.S Supreme Court "came down on the side of a reasonable definition of disability" in siding with Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky Inc. in a workplace disability case, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Ella Williams, a former assembly-line worker at Toyota, sued her former employers, saying her carpal tunnel syndrome and tendinitis were actionable under the Americans with Disabilities Act. A unanimous Supreme Court, however, found that Williams could still bathe herself and perform household tasks, whereas the assembly-line duties she could no longer do "are not necessarily important parts of most people's lives," in the words of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Rubber industry groups did not take an active part in this case, although they supported Toyota and the Chamber of Commerce.