Man With Down Syndrome Sues Family Dollar After Being Forced to Leave Store
The Mighty
John F. Garcia, a 50-year-old man with Down syndrome, is suing Family Dollar Stores of Colorado after he and a group of developmentally disabled adults were repeatedly asked to leave the Pueblo, Colorado, branch of the discount retail chain.
On September 17, 2014, Garcia and a group of other developmentally disabled adults went to their local Family Dollar store with Lisa Pacheco, an employee of Jordan Residential & Vocational Services, Inc., a care center for adults with developmental disabilities. Pacheco takes them on weekly outings to help build confidence and independence.
Wynn Las Vegas Sued By EEOC For Disability Discrimination
Wynn Las Vegas, LLC violated federal law when it discriminated against a disabled employee, a U.S. Army veteran who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed Friday. Wynn owns and operates an integrated luxury resort, which includes casinos, hotels, entertainment venues, along with restaurants and shops on the Las Vegas strip.
Because of the ADA, Universities May Withdraw Free Online Course Content
Cato Institute (blog)
On September 13, the University of California at Berkeley announced that it may have to take down online lecture and course content that it has offered free to the public:
Despite the absence of clear regulatory guidance, we have attempted to maximize the accessibility of free, online content that we have made available to the public. Nevertheless, the Department of Justice has recently asserted that the University is in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act because, in its view, not all of the free course and lecture content UC Berkeley makes available on certain online platforms is fully accessible to individuals with hearing, visual, or manual disabilities.
That Berkeley is not just imagining these legal dangers is illustrated by this clip from Tamar Lewin of the New York Times from February of last year: “Harvard and M.I.T. Are Sued Over Lack of Closed Captions.”
I’ve been warning about this, to no apparent avail, for a long time. In a July post in this space, I noted the tag-team alliance of the U.S. Department of Justice, disabled-rights groups, and fee-seeking private lawyers in gearing up web-accessibility doctrine: when extreme positions are too politically unpalatable for DoJ to endorse directly, it supports private rights groups in their demands, and when a demand is too unpopular or impractical even for the rights groups, there’s nothing to stop the freelance lawyers from taking it up.
Neither political party when in office has been willing to challenge the ADA, so there is every reason to believe this will continue. If you appreciate high-level course content from leading universities, but are not a paying enrolled student, you’d better enjoy it now while you can.
Seventh Circuit Won't Allow Service-Dog Case
Courthouse News Service
Sorry, Shaggy — a lawsuit from a woman who was told she couldn't bring her dog into a federal courtroom lacks standing because she filed it in the wrong court, the Seventh Circuit ruled.
In the Sept. 14 opinion, Chief Judge Diane Wood wrote that the 2011 lawsuit filed by Gloria Jean Sykes, which alleged that an Illinois probate court judge violated her rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, lacks standing for procedural reasons.
Sykes claimed that a Cook County probate court judge expelled her from a courtroom when she arrived with her service dog Shaggy, whom Sykes claims helps her with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The judge, Aicha MacCarthy, allegedly "banned forever" Sykes and the dog from her courtroom after angrily interrogating her for several minutes, during which MacCarthy allegedly said Shaggy was "just a pet" and accused Sykes of faking a disability. The judge entered an order banning Sykes from returning to the dog without leave from the court.
DOJ provides informative take on ADA amendments
Hr Morning
The Department of Justice (DOJ) just issued a final rule amending the ADA — and there’s one aspect of the rule employers will want to pay particular attention to.
The final rule integrates the broad ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) definition of “disability” into the ADA.
The rule only affects Title II (nondiscrimination in state and local government services) and Title III (nondiscrimination by public accommodations and commercial facilities) of the ADA, so it doesn’t apply to employment law per se. But it does reveal how the federal government as a whole expects all companies to apply the ADA to customers and employees alike.
In other words, it provides employers with guidance on how they’re expected to comply with the ADA when it comes to employees with disabilities — even though the final rule doesn’t specifically apply to private employers.
Feds Investigating ADA Compliance at Nampa, Coeur d'Alene Restaurants
Boise Weekly
Federal authorities insist their probe is "not in response to any specific complaint" but have begun a review of restaurants in Nampa and Coeur d'Alene to make sure they're abiding by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The ADA authorizes the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct reviews of restaurants to ensure facilities are "designed, constructed and altered in compliance with the accessibility standards" established by the ADA.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Idaho Wendy Olson said her colleagues would focus on eateries in Nampa and Coeur d'Alene.
“Our goal is to work with restaurant owners to bring them into compliance, so that all their potential patrons have access,” said Olson, adding that restaurant owners would first be asked to complete a survey regarding the establishment's accessibility. Investigators will then visit several restaurants and, if the site visits reveal noncompliance, owners will be asked to make voluntary adjustments. Noncompliance may also trigger a civil lawsuit in federal court, if necessary.
Legal News Line
A Florida man has filed more than 50 lawsuits over alleged federal disability law violations in a New York federal court since October 2014, five of which have been filed against small businesses so far this month.