Are your hiring practices legal? ADA could change your company's employment policy. (Americans with Disabilities Act) (Business Focus: Human Resources)

Employers may not be worried about it yet, but come July 26 they will have to open all facets of employment to people with disabilities or they will be breaking the Americans with Disabilities Act, a federal law that increases the civil rights of people with disabilities.

The July 26 deadline will affect businesses with more than 25 employees and in two years that will encompass businesses with more than 15 employees.

"So far we haven't seen much change," says Rosemary O'Shea, real estate and general business attorney in the Orlando office of Baker & Hostetler. "Some businesses have adopted a wait-and-see attitude," she says.

"Businesses don't quite know what to do," O'Shea says.

To help formulate a business policy, O'Shea suggests using consulting firms and asking people with disabilities for advice.

Lauren Binger, co-founder of Pathways Consultants Inc. a local firm that specializes in ADA education, says employers should better educate all of their employees and start looking at what applicants can do instead of what they can't.

"The spirit of the law is to bring individuals with disabilities …