ADA in the News: November 17, 2017

Settlement Agreement: Louisiana State Penitentiary

Strataforce Settles EEOC Disability Discrimination Lawsuit

Strataforce, a staffing firm with offices in California, Indiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina, agreed to resolve a lawsuit by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging that the company made pre-offer health inquiries of applicants in violation of federal law.

According to EEOC's lawsuit, Strataforce asked applicants to complete an application package that included a detailed medical questionnaire before the company offered the applicant a position or placement. The medical questionnaires asked for sensitive health information, and included numerous disability-related questions. Employers are generally prohibited from making pre-offer medical inquiries and refusing to hire qualified individuals with disabilities by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

More than 500 disability lawsuits hit Georgia businesses

FOX 5 Atlanta

ATLANTA - In a comic book world, the fight for justice seems never-ending. But in his comic book store, Brad Owens sees no justice in the fight he's tangled up in.

“To have someone that is basically extorting you, reminds me of the days back when the mob would want protection money,” says Owens. “It's the same thing.”

Brad Owens is the owner of Rock Shop Music and Comics. His fight began when he got a letter from a lawyer saying a woman named Noelle Wright encountered "architectural barriers" at his store and Rock Shop Comics was violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Return-to-Work Policy Costs Employer $9.8M

Lexology

Why it matters

American Airlines’ return-to-work policy has resulted in a $9.8 million settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) after the agency challenged the airline’s policy of requiring workers to be at “100 percent” in order to return to work. In practice, the policy violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the EEOC asserted, because it meant that employees were not allowed to return to work until they had no disability-related restrictions on their job duties. The charging parties in the case had disabilities ranging from lupus to cancer to asthma, but the employer refused to provide accommodations such as intermittent leave or a stool behind the ticket counter for a worker with a standing restriction, said the EEOC. In addition to monetary relief, the consent decree—in which the employer did not admit liability—requires the airline to conduct additional ADA training and avoid violations of the statute going forward.

Eleventh Circuit: Indefinite Leave Not Reasonable Accommodation

Lexology

Taking a position similar to that of a recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, the Eleventh Circuit held that indefinite leave is not a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). A utility service technician injured his shoulder at work and was given several restrictions on his physically demanding job. He took Family and Medical Leave Act time as well as leave pursuant to an employer policy and eventually underwent surgery. When his leave expired before he was able to return to work, he was terminated for being unable to perform the essential functions of his job. Alleging the employer failed to provide a reasonable accommodation, he sued. A district court judge granted summary judgment for the employer, and the Eleventh Circuit affirmed in a per curiam opinion. Even though the worker’s condition was temporary rather than chronic—and thus likely to be fully corrected at some point in the future—he did not request a specific period of time in which to recover from his surgery, the court explained. “Rather, he was essentially requesting a leave of absence that would allow him to work ‘at some indefinite point in the future,’” which is not a reasonable accommodation, the federal appellate panel wrote.

Class-Action Lawsuit Filed Against City Of San Diego Alleges Mistreatment Of Homeless Living In RVs

KPBS

The lawsuit filed late Wednesday with the U.S. District Court in San Diego alleges that disabled homeless people living in their recreational vehicles are unfairly targeted for tickets.

A Male Prisoner with Gender Dysphoria Wants to Go to a Female Prison

National Review

The law doesn’t require that, but he makes serious allegations that guards have mistreated him. Yesterday, a male prisoner serving a three-to-four-year sentence for drug offenses sued the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, demanding, among other things, that the state transfer him to a female correctional facility because he suffers from gender dysphoria. In his lawsuit, filed by GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders under the pseudonym Jane Doe, Doe alleged violations of his federal and state constitutional rights to equal protection and due process, as well as his rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. All of Doe’s legal theories are dubious, but none so much as his disability claim under the ADA.

Transgender woman sues Massachusetts Department of Corrections for treatment in male prison

JURIST

An unnamed transgender woman being held in an all-male prison in Massachusetts filed suit [complaint, PDF] Wednesday alleging unfair treatment.

The lawsuit, filed by GLAD Legal Advocates and Defenders [advocacy website] in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts [official website], names the Massachusetts Department of Correction, Commissioner Thomas A. Turco III, MCI-Norfolk [official website] Superintendent Sean Medeiros, Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinator James M. O'Gara Jr., and Assistant Deputy Commissioner of Clinical Services Stephanie Collins.

How accessible is your website for the disabled? Consider doing an audit to find out

Poynter (blog)

Since the beginning of 2015, at least 750 website accessibility lawsuits have been filed in federal court, with at least 432 cases filed in the first eight and a half months of 2017. In August, two New York federal judges said that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was applicable to websites, following a Florida federal judge’s verdict this past June that ruled that the grocery store Winn-Dixie “violated Title III of the ADA by having a website that was not useable by plaintiff ... to download coupons, order prescriptions, and find store locations.” Similar lawsuits have been filed this year against Hobby Lobby, Blick, Five Guys, and eight colleges and universities in the New York City metropolitan area.

Feedback Form