Consent Decree: Bolivar County, Mississippi | Complaint
Project Civic Access Agreement: McLennan County, Texas
Employment Law Update - ADA with a side of FMLA: A Cornucopia of Legal Issue
JD Supra
Mixing the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family Medical Leave Act can result in a smorgasbord of legal issues for many employers. While determining whether an employee has a qualifying serious health condition under the FMLA is, in large part, fairly straightforward given the FMLA’s certification requirements and detailed regulations, deciding whether the employee is also a qualified individual with a disability under the ADA can be more challenging.
Katy-Area Shipley’s Donuts Franchise Pays $45,000 To Settle EEOC Pregnancy Discrimination Suit
In its lawsuit, EEOC charged that Shipley's violated federal anti-discrimination laws when it forced Brooke S. Foley to take unpaid leave after Shipley's owner/general manager received information that Foley might be pregnant. According to EEOC, Shipley's would not allow Foley to continue working unless she provided a doctor's release indicating that her pregnancy was not "high-risk." The lawsuit further alleged that when Foley failed to provide such a release, and after she and her mother complained that Shipley's could not require her to do so, she was fired.
Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), which prohibits pregnancy-related job discrimination. Under the PDA, an employer cannot force a pregnant employee, or one the employer suspects of being pregnant, to provide medical documentation proving that the employee can continue working, unless the employee requests some pregnancy-related accommodation. Further, if an employee complains about pregnancy discrimination, the employer must investigate that complaint and must not take any retaliatory employment action against her.
EEOC Finds Hospital's Leave Policy Unlawful, But Texas Federal Court Dismisses Nurse’s ADA Claims
The National Law Review
A federal court in Texas has dismissed a nurse’s disability discrimination and retaliation claims because she failed to establish she was qualified to perform the duties of her position with or without reasonable accommodation even after the EEOC found the employer’s six-month cap on leaves of absence violated the American with Disabilities Act. Salem v. Houston Methodist Hospital, C.A. No. 4:14-1802 (S.D. Tex. Oct. 30, 2015).
Rash of ADA Website Accessibility Class Actions Put Businesses on Notice
JD Supra
As a business owner or manager, it is likely that you’ve never considered whether or not your website was compliant for the blind or visually impaired. However, earlier this year a number of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) class action lawsuits were filed by Carlson Lynch, a plaintiffs’ firm that also filed hundreds of ATM class actions in 2013. In the past two years, lawsuits and demand letters regarding businesses denying access to the visually impaired public have been on the rise. It is likely that we’ll continue to see suits filed against retailers, banks, libraries, colleges and any other organization that provide places of public accommodation for their websites.
First deaf-blind Harvard Law school graduate
GhanaWeb
The U.S Embassy salutes Eritrean-American Haben Girma for her courage and determination in the face of physical challenges. We were happy to learn that she was welcomed at the White House to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and we congratulate her on becoming the first deaf-blind graduate of Harvard Law School.