Texas Prohibitions on Discrimination

From: Staffing

The state’s anti-discrimination laws discussed here are as follows:

Employment discrimination law (Tex. Lab. Code Ann. §§ 21.001 – 21.556).
Equal work, equal pay law (Tex. Govt. Code Ann. § 659.001).
Rights and responsibilities of persons with disabilities law (Tex. Human Resources Code Ann. §§ 121.001 – 121.011).

Employment Discrimination Law

The provisions of Texas law regarding employment discrimination are located at Tex. Lab. Code Ann. §§ 21.001 – 21.556. The law generally prohibits employment discrimination within the state.

Covered Employers

Employers covered by the law are those with 15 or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, including their agents. The law also applies to counties, municipalities, state agencies, or state instrumentalities, regardless of the number of individuals employed.

Covered Employees

Employees covered by the law are any individual employed by an employer, including an individual subject to the civil service laws of the state or a political subdivision of Texas.

Franchises

Under Texas law regarding employment discrimination protections, franchisee and franchisor are defined by federal law at 16 C.F.R. § 436.1 and a franchisor is not considered an employer of either a franchisee or a franchisee’s employees.

A franchisor will not be considered an employer for claims related to employment discrimination unless the franchisor has been found by a state court to have exercised a type or degree of control over its franchisee or its employees not customarily exercised by a franchisor to protect the franchisor’s trademarks and brand.

Definitions

For purposes of the employment discrimination law:

Auxiliary aids and services include:
- Qualified interpreters or other effective methods of making aurally delivered materials available to individuals with hearing impairments.
- Qualified readers, taped texts, or other effective methods of making visually delivered materials available to individuals with visual impairments.
- Acquisition or modification of equipment or devices.
- Services and actions similar to those previously described.
Bona fide occupational qualification means a qualification:
- Reasonably related to the satisfactory performance of the duties of a job.
- For which a factual basis exists for the belief that no person of an excluded group would be able to satisfactorily perform the duties of the job with safety or efficiency.
Disability means, with respect to an individual, a mental or physical impairment that substantially limits at least one major life activity of that individual, having a record of such an impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment. The term does not include:
- A current condition of addiction to the use of alcohol, a drug, an illegal substance, or a federally controlled substance.
- A currently communicable disease or infection that constitutes a direct threat to the health or safety of other persons or that makes the affected person unable to perform the duties of the person’s employment.
Employment agency means a person or an agent of the person who regularly undertakes, with or without compensation, to procure:
- Employees for an employer.
- The opportunity for employees to work for an employer.
Labor organization means a labor organization engaged in an industry affecting commerce. The term includes:
- An organization, an agency, or an employee representation committee, group, association, or plan engaged in an industry affecting commerce in which employees participate and that exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours, or other terms or conditions of employment.
- A conference, general committee, joint or system board, or joint council that is subordinate to a national or international labor organization.
- An agent of a labor organization.

The term disability must be construed in favor of broad coverage of individuals to the maximum extent allowed by law and includes an impairment that is episodic or in remission that substantially limits a major life activity when active. The determination of whether an impairment substantially limits a major life activity must be made without regard to the ameliorative effects of mitigating measures, including:

Medication, medical supplies, medical equipment, medical appliances, prosthetic limbs and devices, hearing aids, cochlear implants and other implantable hearing devices, mobility devices, and oxygen therapy equipment.
Devices that magnify, enhance, or otherwise augment a visual image, other than eyeglasses and contact lenses that are intended to fully correct visual acuity or eliminate refractive error.
The use of assistive technology.
Reasonable accommodations and auxiliary aids or services.
Learned behavioral or adaptive neurological modifications.

General Unlawful Employment Practices

Under Texas law, it is an unlawful discriminatory employment practice:

For an employer to fail or refuse to hire an individual, discharge an individual, or discriminate against an individual in connection with compensation or the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of race, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin, or age.
For an employer to limit, segregate, or classify an employee or applicant for employment in a manner that would deprive or tend to deprive an individual of an employment opportunity or adversely affect the status of an employee.
For an employment agency to fail or refuse to refer for employment or discriminate against an individual because of race, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin, or age.
For an employment agency to classify or refer an individual for employment on the basis of race, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin, or age.
For a labor organization to exclude or expel from membership or discriminate against an individual because of race, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin, or age.
For a labor organization to limit, segregate, or classify a member or an applicant for membership or classify or fail or refuse to refer for employment an individual in a manner that would deprive or tend to deprive an individual of an employment opportunity, limit an employment opportunity, or adversely affect the status of an employee or of an applicant for employment because of race, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin, or age.
For an employer, labor union, or employment agency to aid, abet, incite, or coerce a person to engage in a discriminatory practice.
For an employer, labor organization, employment agency, or joint labor-management committee controlling an apprenticeship, on-the-job training, or other training or retraining program to print or publish or cause to be printed or published a notice or advertisement relating to employment that does the following:
- Indicates a preference, limitation, specification, or discrimination based on race, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin, or age.
- Concerns an employee’s status, employment, or admission to or membership or participation in a labor union or training or retraining program.
For an employer to fail or refuse to hire, to discharge, or to discriminate against an individual with respect to compensation in terms, conditions, or privileges of employment; for a labor organization to exclude or expel from membership or otherwise discriminate against an individual; or for an employment agency to classify or refer for employment or fail or refuse to refer for employment; or otherwise discriminate against an individual on the basis of genetic information concerning the individual or because of the refusal of the individual to submit to a genetic test.

Admission or Participation in Training Programs

Unless a training or retraining opportunity or program is provided under an affirmative action plan approved under a federal law, rule, or order, an employer, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee controlling an apprenticeship, on-the-job training, or other training or retraining program commits an unlawful employment practice if the employer, labor organization, or committee discriminates against an individual because of race, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin, or age in admission to or participation in the program.

The prohibition against discrimination because of age applies only to discrimination against an individual who is at least 40 years of age and younger than 56 years of age for claims of discrimination for being denied access to job training. All other claims of age discrimination apply to any individuals who are over 40 years old.

Retaliation

An employer, labor union, or employment agency commits an unlawful employment practice if the employer, labor union, or employment agency retaliates or discriminates against a person who, under the employment discrimination law:

Opposes a discriminatory practice.
Makes or files a charge.
Files a complaint.
Testifies, assists, or participates in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing.

Application and Exceptions

Discrimination Based on Sex

Any provision under the employment discrimination law referring to discrimination because of sex or on the basis of sex includes discrimination because of or on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition.

A woman affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition must be treated for all purposes related to employment, including receipt of a benefit under a fringe benefit program, in the same manner as another individual not affected but similar in the individual’s ability or inability to work.

Abortion Benefits

The employment discrimination law does not:

Require an employer to pay for health insurance benefits for abortion unless the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term.
Preclude an employer from providing abortion benefits.
Affect a bargaining agreement relating to abortion.

Discrimination Based on Disability

The prohibitions referring to discrimination because of disability or on the basis of disability applies only to discrimination because of or on the basis of a physical or mental condition that does not impair an individual’s ability to reasonably perform a job.

Reasonable Accommodation

It is an unlawful employment practice for a person or entity covered by the employment discrimination law to fail or refuse to make a reasonable workplace accommodation to a known physical or mental limitation of an otherwise qualified individual with a disability who is an employee or applicant for employment. An exception exists where the respondent demonstrates that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the business of the respondent.

A showing of undue hardship by the person or entity is a defense to a complaint of discrimination made by an otherwise qualified individual with a disability. In considering a complaint based on a disability, the commission will consider the reasonableness of the cost of any necessary workplace accommodation and the availability of alternatives or other appropriate relief.

However, an employer is not obligated to make a reasonable workplace accommodation to a known physical or mental limitation of an otherwise qualified individual if the individual’s disability is based solely on being regarded as having an impairment that substantially limits at least one major life activity. A major life activity includes, but is not limited to, caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working. The term also includes the operation of a major bodily function, including, but not limited to, functions of the immune system, normal cell growth, and digestive, bowel, bladder, neurological, brain, respiratory, circulatory, endocrine, and reproductive functions. Regarded as having such an impairment means subjected to an action prohibited under Subchapter B or C because of an actual or perceived physical or mental impairment, other than an impairment that is minor and is expected to last or actually lasts less than six months, regardless of whether the impairment limits or is perceived to limit a major life activity.

Discrimination Based on Religion

Any provision under the employment discrimination law referring to discrimination because of religion or on the basis of religion applies to discrimination because of or on the basis of any aspect of religious observance, practice, or belief, unless an employer demonstrates that the employer is unable reasonably to accommodate the religious observance or practice of an employee or applicant without undue hardship to the conduct of the employer’s business.

Bona Fide Employee Benefit Plans and Production Measurement Systems

An employer does not commit an unlawful employment practice by applying different standards of compensation or different terms, conditions, or privileges of employment under:

A bona fide seniority system, merit system, or an employee benefit plan, such as a retirement, pension, or insurance plan, that is not a subterfuge to evade this chapter.
A system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production.

However, an employee benefit plan may not excuse a failure to hire on the basis of age. A seniority system or employee benefit plan may not require or permit involuntary retirement on the basis of age except as permitted by § 21.103. Section 21.103 states that the law does not prohibit the compulsory retirement of an employee who is:

At least 65 years of age.
Employed in a bona fide executive or high policy-making position for the two years preceding retirement.
Entitled to an immediate, nonforfeitable, annual retirement benefit from a pension, profit sharing, savings, or deferred compensation plan or a combination of plans of the employee’s employer that equals, in the aggregate, at least $27,000.

Note: This section does not apply to standards of compensation or terms, conditions, or privileges of employment that are discriminatory on the basis of race, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin, or age.

Employment by Religious Organizations

A religious corporation, association, society, or educational institution or an educational organization operated, supervised, or controlled in whole or in substantial part by a religious corporation, association, or society does not commit an unlawful employment practice by limiting employment or giving a preference to members of the same religion.

The unlawful employment practices discussed above do not apply to the employment of an individual of a particular religion by a religious corporation, association, or society to perform work connected with the performance of religious activities by the corporation, association, or society.

Imbalance Plans (Affirmative Action)

The employment discrimination law does not require a person subject to the law to grant preferential treatment to an individual or a group on the basis of race, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin, or age because of an imbalance between:

The total number or percentage of persons of that individual’s or group’s race, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin, or age:
- Employed by an employer.
- Referred or classified for employment by an employment agency or labor organization.
- Admitted to membership or classified by a labor organization.
- Admitted to or employed in an apprenticeship, on-the-job training, or other training or retraining program.
The total number or percentage of persons of that race, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin, or age in:
A community, Texas, a region, or other area.
The available workforce in a community, Texas, a region, or other area.

Business Necessity

An employer does not commit an unlawful employment practice by engaging in a practice that has a discriminatory effect and that would otherwise be prohibited by the employment discrimination law if the employer establishes that the practice:

Is not intentionally devised or operated to contravene the prohibitions of this chapter.
Is justified by business necessity.

However, an employer may not use a qualification standard, employment test, or other selection criterion based on an individual’s uncorrected vision unless the standard, test, or criterion is consistent with business necessity and job related for the position to which the standard, test, or criterion applies.

Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications

If disability, religion, sex, national origin, or age is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of the particular business or enterprise, performing any of the following practices on the basis of disability, religion, sex, national origin, or age of an employee, member, or other individual is not an unlawful employment practice:

An employer hiring and employing an employee.
An employment agency classifying or referring an individual for employment.
A labor organization classifying its members or classifying or referring an individual for employment.
An employer, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee controlling an apprenticeship, on-the-job training, or other training or retraining program admitting or employing an individual in its program.

Use or Possession of Controlled Substances

An employer does not commit an unlawful employment practice by adopting a policy prohibiting the employment of an individual who currently uses or possesses a controlled substance as defined in Schedules I and II of § 202, Controlled Substances Act, and their subsequent amendments (21 U.S.C. §§ 801 et seq.), other than the use or possession of a drug taken under the supervision of a licensed health care professional or any other use or possession authorized by the Controlled Substances Act or any other federal or state law. However, this does not apply to a policy adopted or applied with the intent to discriminate because of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, or disability.

Workforce Diversity Programs

An employer does not commit an unlawful employment practice by developing and implementing personnel policies that incorporate workforce diversity programs.

Sexual Harassment Against Unpaid Interns

An employer commits an unlawful employment practice if sexual harassment of an unpaid intern occurs and the employer or the employer’s agents or supervisors:

Knew or should have known that the conduct constituting sexual harassment was occurring; and
Failed to take immediate and appropriate corrective action.

An individual is an unpaid intern of an employer if all of the following are true:

The individual’s internship, even though it includes engagement in the employer’s operations or the performance of productive work for the employer, is similar to training that would be given in an educational environment.
The individual’s internship experience is for the individual’s benefit.
The individual does not displace the employer’s regular employees but works under close supervision of the employer’s existing staff.
The employer does not derive any immediate advantage from the individual’s internship activities and on occasion the employer’s operations may be impeded by those activities.
The individual is not entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship.
The individual is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.

As used in this section, sexual harassment means an unwelcome sexual advance, a request for a sexual favor, or any other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature if any of the following occur:

Submission to the advance, request, or conduct is made a term or condition of an individual’s internship, either explicitly or implicitly.
Submission to or rejection of the advance, request, or conduct by an individual is used as the basis for a decision affecting the individual’s internship.
The advance, request, or conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance at the individual’s internship.
The advance, request, or conduct has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.

State Agencies

Each state agency must provide to its employees an employment discrimination training program that complies with the following requirements:

The training program must provide the employee with information regarding the agency’s policies and procedures relating to employment discrimination, including employment discrimination involving sexual harassment.
Each employee of a state agency must attend the training program not later than the 30^th day after the date the employee is hired by the agency and must attend supplemental training every two years.
Each state agency must require an employee of the agency who attends a training program to sign a statement verifying the employee’s attendance. The agency must file the statement in the employee’s personnel file.
A state agency that receives three or more complaints of employment discrimination in a fiscal year, other than complaints determined to be without merit, must provide a comprehensive equal employment opportunity training program to appropriate supervisory and managerial employees.
The state agency must provide documentation of the training to the Texas Workforce Commission if the training is not conducted by the commission. The documentation must include the dates the training was provided, the names of the persons attending the training, an agenda for the training program, and the name of the entity or person providing the training.

Each state agency must report equal employment opportunity information for the preceding calendar year to the Texas Workforce Commission no later than the seventh day of each calendar year, excluding legal holidays and weekends. Failure to file the required report may result in administrative penalties.

Posting Requirements

The Texas Commission on Human Rights encourages employers to conspicuously post the Equal Opportunity is the Law in Texas poster.

Recordkeeping Requirements

Per Tex. Lab. Code Ann. § 21.301, employers subject to the employment discrimination provisions that are under investigation in connection with a filed charge must make, keep and preserve records relevant to the determination of whether unlawful employment practices have been or are being committed, and make reports from such records.

Enforcement and Penalties

A person claiming to be aggrieved by an unlawful employment practice or that person’s agent may file a complaint with the Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division (TWC). The Civil Rights Division conducts a neutral investigation to determine if discrimination has occurred under the Texas Labor Code and works in cooperation with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to resolve employment discrimination allegations. If a current, former, or prospective employee submits an employment discrimination complaint against an employer and the complaint is accepted, the TWC will notify the employer and send a mediation or alternative dispute resolution invitation.

In finding that an employer engaged in an unlawful employment practice as alleged in a complaint, a court may prohibit by injunction the employer from engaging in an unlawful employment practice and order any of the following additional equitable relief:

Hiring or reinstating with or without backpay.
Upgrading an employee with or without pay.
Admitting to or restoring union membership.
Admitting to or participating in a guidance program, apprenticeship, or on-the-job training or other training or retraining program, using objective job-related criteria in admitting an individual to a program.
Reporting on the manner of compliance with the terms of a final order.
Paying court costs.

Liability under a backpay award may not accrue for more than two years before the date a complaint is filed with the commission. Interim earnings, workers’ compensation benefits, and unemployment compensation benefits received operate to reduce the backpay otherwise allowable.

On finding that a respondent engaged in an unlawful intentional employment practice as alleged in a complaint, the court may award compensatory damages and punitive damages.

A complainant may recover punitive damages against a respondent other than a respondent that is a governmental entity if the complainant demonstrates that the respondent engaged in a discriminatory practice with malice or with reckless indifference to the state-protected rights of an aggrieved individual. Compensatory damages awarded under this section may include backpay, interest on backpay, and other relief authorized by law.

The sum of the amount of compensatory damages awarded for future pecuniary losses, emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, and other nonpecuniary losses and the amount of punitive damages awarded may not exceed for each complainant:

$50,000 in the case of a respondent that has fewer than 101 employees.
$100,000 in the case of a respondent that has more than 100 and fewer than 201 employees.
$200,000 in the case of a respondent that has more than 200 and fewer than 501 employees.
$300,000 in the case of a respondent that has more than 500 employees.

The court may allow the prevailing party, other than the commission, a reasonable attorney’s fee as part of the costs. The state, a state agency, or a political subdivision is liable for costs, including attorneys’ fees, to the same extent as a private person. The court in its discretion may include reasonable expert fees.

If the affected employee or applicant for employment has a disability, the court must consider the undue hardship defense, including the reasonableness of the cost of necessary workplace accommodation and the availability of alternatives or other appropriate relief.

Equal Work, Equal Pay

Pursuant to Tex. Govt. Code Ann. § 659.001, a woman who performs public service for Texas (a state employee) is entitled to be paid the same compensation for her service as is paid to a man who performs the same kind, grade, and quantity of service. A distinction in compensation may not be made because of sex.

Rights and Responsibilities of Persons with Disabilities

According to Tex. Human Resources Code Ann. §§ 121.001 – 121.011, persons with disabilities have the same right as persons without disabilities to the full use and enjoyment of any public facility in the state.

No common carrier, airplane, railroad train, motor bus, streetcar, boat, or other public conveyance or mode of transportation operating within the state may:

Refuse to accept as a passenger a person with a disability solely because of the disability.
Require a person with a disability to pay an additional fare because of the use of an assistance animal, wheelchair, crutches, or other device used to assist a person with a disability in travel.

In addition, no person with a disability may be denied admittance to any public facility in the state because of the person’s disability. No person with a disability may be denied the use of a white cane, assistance animal, wheelchair, crutches, or other assistive device.

Prohibited discrimination includes a refusal to allow a person with a disability to use or be admitted to any public facility, a ruse or subterfuge calculated to prevent or discourage a person with a disability from using or being admitted to a public facility, and a failure to:

Comply with the provisions of Texas law concerning architectural barriers.
Make reasonable accommodations in policies, practices, and procedures.
Provide auxiliary aids and services necessary to allow the full use and enjoyment of the public facility.

Regulations relating to the use of public facilities by any designated class of persons from the general public may not prohibit the use of particular public facilities by persons with disabilities who, except for their disabilities or use of assistance animals or other devices for assistance in travel, would fall within the designated class.

It is the policy of the state that persons with disabilities be employed by the state, by political subdivisions of the state, in the public schools, and in all other employment supported in whole or in part by public funds on the same terms and conditions as persons without disabilities. An exception exists where it is shown there is no reasonable accommodation that would enable a person with a disability to perform the essential elements of a job.

Service Animals

A service animal in training must not be denied admittance to any public facility when accompanied by an approved trainer. A person may not assault, harass, interfere with, kill, or injure in any way, or attempt to assault, harass, interfere with, kill, or injure in any way, an assistance animal. Additionally, a person is not entitled to make demands or inquiries relating to the qualifications or certifications of a service animal for purposes of admittance to a public facility except to determine the basic type of assistance provided by the service animal to a person with a disability.

If a person’s disability is not clear, for purposes of admittance to a public facility with a service animal, a staff member or manager of the facility may inquire:

Whether the service animal is required because the person has a disability; and
The type of work or task the service animal is trained to perform.

Penalties and Damages Resulting from Discrimination

A person, firm, association, corporation, or other organization, or the agent of a person, firm, association, corporation, or other organization (person) that discriminates against an individual with a disability commits a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $300 and 30 hours of community service to be performed for a governmental entity or nonprofit organization that primarily serves persons with visual impairments or other disabilities, or for another entity or organization at the discretion of the court, to be completed within one year.

Responsibilities of Persons with Disabilities

A person with a disability who uses an assistance animal for assistance in travel is liable for any damages done to the premises or facilities by the animal. A person with a disability who uses an assistance animal for assistance in travel or auditory awareness must keep the animal properly harnessed or leashed. A person who is injured by the animal because of the failure of a person with a disability to properly harness or leash the animal is entitled to maintain a cause of action for damages in a court of competent jurisdiction under the same law applicable to other causes brought for the redress of injuries caused by animals.

Penalties for Improper Use of Service Animals

A person who uses an assistance animal with a harness or leash of the type commonly used by persons with disabilities who use trained animals in order to represent that the person’s animal is a specially trained assistance animal when training of the required type has not in fact been provided is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction may be punished by a fine of up to $300 and 30 hours of community service to be performed for a governmental entity or nonprofit organization that primarily serves persons with visual impairments or other disabilities, or for another entity or organization at the discretion of the court, to be completed within one year.

A person who habitually abuses or neglects to feed or otherwise neglects to properly care for the person’s assistance animal is subject to seizure of the animal.

Testing Adults with Disabilities

The following sets forth the requirements under Texas law for testing individuals with disabilities:

A test that evaluates an adult with a disability for a job, position in business, government, or industry or a test to determine that person’s educational level must measure individual abilities and not specific disabilities.
If an examiner knows that an adult examinee has a disability, the examiner may use an alternate form of testing. The alternate form of testing must assess the aptitude of the examinee by using that person’s primary learning mode.
The examiner may use as an alternative form of testing a procedure or adaptation that will help ensure the best performance possible by an adult with a disability, including oral or visual administration of the test, oral or manual response to the test, the use of readers, tape recorders, interpreters, large print or Braille text, the removal of time constraints, and multiple testing sessions.
An examiner must select and administer a test to an examinee who has a disability that impairs sensory, manual, or speaking skills so that the test accurately reflects the factor the test is intended to measure and does not reflect the examinee’s impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills.
An examiner may not use a test that has a disproportionate, adverse effect on an adult with a disability or a class of adults with disabilities unless:
- The test has been validated as a predictor of success in the program or activity for which the adult with a disability is applying.
- Alternate tests or alternative forms of testing that have a less disproportionate, adverse effect do not exist or are not available.

Accessibility of Examination or Course Offered by a Private Entity

A private entity that offers an examination or a course related to applications, certification, credentialing, or licensing for secondary or postsecondary education, a profession, or a trade must:

Offer the examination or course in a place and manner that is accessible to persons with disabilities or make alternative accessible arrangements for persons with disabilities.
Offer the examination or course to persons with disabilities as often as the entity offers the examination or course to persons without disabilities.
Offer the examination or course to persons with disabilities at a location that is as convenient as the location at which the entity offers the examination or course to person without disabilities.
Offer the examination or course to persons with disabilities at a time that is as appropriate as the time when the entity offers the examination or course to persons without disabilities.
Make auxiliary test guides and other resources available in alternative formats.

A private entity that offers an examination or a course described by the above provisions may require persons with disabilities to provide reasonable documentation of their disabilities and reasonable advance notice of necessary modifications or aids. The deadline for advance notice may not be earlier than the application deadline for the examination or course.

The entity may not refuse a request for modifications or aids from a person with a disability on the grounds that the person because of disability would not meet other requirements of the profession or occupation for which the course or examination is given.