The legal floor.

The ADA: §12114(b)

The Americans with Disabilities Act treats addiction as a disability, with one important carve-out. Past addiction is protected. Current illegal use is not.

Section 12114(b) clarifies: individuals in recovery from substance use disorder — including those in treatment, those who completed treatment, and those participating in supervised programs — are protected from discrimination in hiring, employment, and termination. An employer cannot fire you or refuse to hire you because of your recovery history, your treatment, or your medical history of addiction.

What current illegal use means is narrower than people often assume. A prescribed medication like buprenorphine is not illegal use — it’s prescribed care, protected through the same channels as any other prescription. A relapse in the past is not current use; the ADA looks at the present.

Reasonable accommodations are available under the ADA. Common ones: flexible scheduling for counseling, time off for medical appointments, a non-drinking workplace event allowance, modifications to drug-testing schedule for legitimate medical reasons. To request, write to HR; the request triggers an interactive process the employer is legally required to engage in.

The EEOC 2022 opioid guidance

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission published 2022 guidance specifically on opioid-use disorder and MAT. Key points:

• MAT — methadone, buprenorphine, naltrexone — is protected. A legitimate prescription cannot be the basis for adverse employment action.
• The Medical Review Officer (MRO) process keeps your prescription confidential. When a pre-employment drug test flags positive for an opiate metabolite, the MRO calls you (not your employer); you confirm your prescription; the MRO documents it; the result reported to your employer is “negative.”
• Some safety-sensitive roles can deny employment to a worker on MAT under specific circumstances. The bar is high — direct safety risk that cannot be accommodated. Most positions cannot use MAT as a denial basis.

FMLA — Family and Medical Leave Act

The FMLA entitles eligible workers (12 months of employment + 1,250 hours worked in the past year + employer of 50+ employees) to up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for serious health conditions — which substance use disorder treatment qualifies for.

Importantly: FMLA leave is for treatment, not for continued use. If you take FMLA for treatment, you return to your job (or an equivalent one). The employer cannot retaliate.

FMLA is also available for caring for a family member in treatment — a child, spouse, or parent.

Title VII (race / national origin / sex)

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, and religion. Substance use disorder protection overlaps with Title VII when the discrimination has disparate impact on a protected class. If an employer’s drug-testing or hiring practice disproportionately affects a racial group, Title VII may apply alongside the ADA.

The EEOC accepts Title VII complaints within 180 days of the discriminatory act (300 days in some states).

FCRA — Fair Credit Reporting Act

When an employer runs a background check on you, the FCRA gives you rights:

• You must be told that a background check is being run, and you must consent in writing.
• You get a copy of the report if anything in it is used to deny you employment, with a chance to dispute inaccuracies before the final decision.
• You can dispute inaccurate or outdated information. Inaccurate records are common; the dispute process is real.
• Most adverse information has a 7-year reporting limit (10 years for some bankruptcies). Older records often shouldn’t appear at all.

Second-chance and expungement laws

Most states have some form of expungement or sealing law for criminal records. The strength varies enormously by state.

Indianahas one of the strongest second-chance frameworks in the country, under Indiana Code § 35-38-9. Many misdemeanors and lower-level felonies become eligible for expungement after wait periods (typically 5–8 years post-conviction). Your state’s free legal aid (listed below) can tell you whether your record qualifies and walk you through the filing.

For other states, the National Reentry Resource Center maintains a state-by-state guide. Free legal aid in your state will know the rules.

Ban-the-box and fair-chance laws

Many states and cities have ban-the-box laws restricting when employers can ask about criminal history during hiring. The variability is high; the National Employment Law Project maintains a current map.

Federally, ban-the-box applies to federal employment and federal contractors (the Fair Chance Act, 2019).

What to do when something feels wrong

If you believe an employment decision violated one of these protections:

1. Document everything. Save emails, write down conversations, note dates. The case lives in the documentation.
2. Talk to free legal aid first. Indiana Legal Services and Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic handle these cases at no cost. A 30-minute call clarifies whether you have anything actionable.
3. File with the EEOCif it’s an ADA/Title VII issue. 180-day window (300 in some states). The filing is free.
4. State agencies sometimes have parallel processes with shorter windows and faster turnaround. Free legal aid will route you.

Free legal aid in Indiana

The two organizations to know:

• Indiana Legal Services ↗ — statewide free legal aid. Online intake. Handles expungement, employment discrimination, housing, family law.
• Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic ↗ — Indianapolis-area free legal aid; regular expungement clinics.

Outside Indiana, LSC’s legal aid locator ↗ routes to your state’s free legal aid programs.