Bedford Weaving Sued for Genetic Information and Disability Discrimination
Bedford Weaving, Inc., a broad loom fabric weaving manufacturer, violated federal law when it asked an applicant for genetic information and made illegal medical inquiries, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed today. The suit also alleged Bedford Weaving failed to hire the applicant because she disclosed her disability on the application and that it failed to retain employment applications as required by federal law.
Feds sue Amtrak over employee discrimination
The Hil
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing Amtrak for allegedly discriminating against a disabled worker in Seattle.
The agency's lawsuit accuses Amtrak withdrew a 2013 job offer to a Seattle resident who was on the verge of being hired to work as a machinist journeyman in a rail yard after it discovered that he has epilepsy.
The EEOC lawsuit argues that Amtrak violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by rescinding its offer to the resident, Shawn Moe.
Gluten-Free Glutton: How schools are handling students' special dietary needs
Florida Times-Union
If you go out to eat, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that more and more restaurants are offering gluten-free menus, or noting gluten-free items on their regular menus.
Whether they’re doing this to accommodate those of us who can’t eat gluten at all or doing it to appeal to the rest of the masses dining under the illusion that gluten free is healthier, it’s definitely making it easier to find gluten-free food to eat.
But with a new school year starting, I found myself wondering if children with celiac disease or some other type of gluten intolerance are having the same experience in their school cafeterias. Are they able to find gluten-free items on cafeteria menus, and are the cafeterias equipped to handle gluten-free requests at all?
Department of Justice Settles with Golden Corral Restaurant in Farmington, New Mexico
Yumanewsnow
The Justice Department today announced a settlement agreement under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to make the Golden Corral in Farmington, New Mexico, accessible to persons with disabilities. The Golden Corral was investigated in conjunction with the department’s Project Civic Access, a Civil Rights Division initiative to ensure that cities, towns, counties and local businesses throughout the country comply with the ADA.
Does Your Institution Have a Disability Accommodation Policy? It should
JD Supra
The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (“ADA”) prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities. The ADA also requires an employer to make reasonable accommodations for the known disabilities of an individual in order to allow the individual to perform the essential functions of the job. A stand-alone ADA Accommodation Policy demonstrates the institution’s commitment to the law by prohibiting discrimination and encouraging reasonable accommodations. A good policy will establish a workable and understandable employee accommodation request procedure, require medical documentation where warranted, and generally describe the interactive process that occurs once an accommodation request is made. By maintaining and following its policy, the institution can maintain a consistent approach, reduce risk when disability accommodation questions arise, and better defend disability discrimination claims.
JD Supra
In late July, coinciding with the 25th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) entered into a landmark settlement agreement with Carnival Corp. to improve the physical accessibility of 62 cruise ships sailing under the Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line, and Princess Cruise brands. The agreement, also addresses the accessibility of Carnival’s website, mobile application, and reservation system. The agreement is notable in at least two key respects:
First, this is the first time that DOJ has taken the position that a cruise line must provide a minimum number of accessible cabins, conduct a survey of its ships, and develop a plan to improve the accessibility of its ships. This news may come as a surprise to some in the industry because DOJ has never issued any regulations setting the design standards for accessible cruise ships. The U.S. Access Board is still in the process of issuing final guidelines for accessible cruise ship design, but those guidelines will not legally binding until DOJ adopts them through a proper rulemaking process which has yet to begin. No matter — DOJ is moving forward with enforcement anyway, borrowing accessibility principles from the ADA Standards for Accessible Design, that apply to facilities on land. (Sound familiar to those of you watching the website enforcement actions proceed faster than regulations? For those of you not familiar, read on…)
Second, the agreement shows DOJ’s continued pressure on businesses to make their websites and mobile applications conform to a privately developed accessibility standard that it has yet to adopt in any regulation — namely, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.0, level AA. As part of the settlement, Carnival agreed to make its website and mobile application conform with this set of guidelines.
Uber's Business Isn't Built to Help Disabled People
Wired
Service animals and the Fair Housing Act
Lexology
The Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of residential housing based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status and disability. Although the non-discrimination concept embodied within the FHA is relatively straight forward, application of the law to real world situations is not always as clear cut. This article discusses the interplay between the FHA and service animals by examining a few of the more commonly raised questions when a potential tenant with a disability seeks housing along with his/her furry (or not so furry) companion.
Disabled salon patron urges ADA compliance
The Louisiana Record
A disabled Orleans Parish man is suing a hair salon chain, alleging non-compliance with disability law in regard to impaired accessibility of the salon’s facilities.
Mitchell Miraglia filed a lawsuit July 28 against Supercuts Inc. in U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana, alleging negligence regarding restroom facilities as recently as June.
According to the complaint, Miraglia is a quadriplegic affected by cerebral palsy and relies on the use of a wheelchair for mobility. The suit states that in June, when the plaintiff was a customer at the salon, 712 S. Carrollton Ave., New Orleans, an employee of Supercuts said there was no accessible restroom for disabled patrons at the property.
The suit states the defendant’s parent company published an annual report in 2014, which explicitly stated franchises are required to conform to certain operational policies and procedures. The plaintiff interprets this to mean the defendant is obligated to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Sims Recycling and All-Star Personnel to Pay $25,000 to Settle EEOC Disability Discrimination Suit
Sims Recycling Solutions, Inc., an international electronics recycling company, and All-Star Personnel, Inc., a local staffing agency, will pay $25,000 and furnish other relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
In its lawsuit, EEOC charged that Sims and All-Star violated federal law by refusing to assign an individual temporary work because she has a hearing impairment. EEOC's suit contended that All-Star assigned the employee to work at a Sims recycling facility in LaVergne, Tenn. When Sims learned the employee had a hearing impairment, Sims and All-Star told the employee she could not work there.
25 years after the ADA, those with hidden disabilities still work for equal protection
MinnPost
When the Americans With Disabilities Act was passed 25 years ago, many people may have assumed that the law was written only to protect the rights of people with physical disabilities. But that’s never been the case, said Cindy Held Tarshish, ADA Minnesota program manager for the Metropolitan Center for Independent Living. The ADA is an inclusive piece of legislation, she pointed out, that also provides legal protections for Americans with hidden disabilities, including mental illness and addiction disorders.
“People with all disabilities are covered under the ADA,” Tarshish said. “I would imagine that some people assume that only people with visible disabilities are truly disabled, but that’s not the case. The largest percentage of people with disabilities in this country is actually those whose disabilities are hidden."
Happy Birthday ADA And How We Can Celebrate
Mondaq News Alerts
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is 25 years old this year. I was a newly minted lawyer when this law emerged in 1990 and as I have grown, so have the number of disability discrimination lawsuits. In celebration of the ADA's birthday, I thought we could celebrate with a quick review of an employer's legal obligations when an employee needs a reasonable accommodation.
No Good Deed: When Unnecessary ADA Accommodation May Become Required ADA Accommodation
The National Law Review
Managers who are trying to do employees a good turn may find themselves in an unwanted predicament, if the EEOC ever winds up getting involved.
Most of us know that disability claims are a primary focus for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. And with the ADA’s 25th anniversary last month, the focus is even more heightened. But what may come as a surprise to some is the EEOC’s highly aggressive stance when it comes to accommodating disabled employees.
Workplace violence – putting employers on the horns of a dilemma
Lexology
Employers today can find themselves in a seemingly untenable dilemma when they have violence threaten to invade their workplaces. Two recent cases illustrate the competing liabilities that employers face in their decision-making as to how to respond to workplace violence.
In one case, decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the employer, a superalloys casting company, chose to fire an openly hostile employee making death threats to avoid potential injury to its employees, and face the prospect of costly litigation including an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuit.
In the other case, decided by an Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) Administrative Law Judge, a healthcare company did not perceive or protect a social service coordinator, who was tragically fatally stabbed outside the client’s home, from the hazard of workplace violence.
Is Lawyer Fighting For People With Disabilities, Or Just Generating Cash Settlements?
CBS Local
He claims to be helping the disabled by suing small businesses that are not accessible to the disabled. But some say instead of making the businesses comply, he’s settling for cash.
Business's Next Frontier: People With Disabilities - Forbes
For years organizations seeking a competitive advantage have embraced diversity; but today the leading enterprises have found a new source of growth–people with disabilities. The global market represents 1.3 billion people and their 2.3 billion family members, friends, caregivers and colleagues; aggregately people with disabilities account for an astounding $8 trillion dollars in disposable income. Business leaders have also found that people with disabilities build a more authentic, loyal and creative culture. People with disabilities also represent an almost untapped talent pool who bring a wide range of education, experience, expertise and perspective to the workforce.
Changes to the Social Security Disability Insurance program might include expanding incentives for people to work rather than rely on benefits, a Stanford economist says. Mark Duggan, the incoming director of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, studies the effects of programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid on the behavior of individuals and firms. In February, he testified before the U.S. Senate Budget Committee about the Social Security Disability Insurance program. The 60-year-old trust fund is facing a funding shortfall unless Congress and the White House agree on new funding and possibly reforms. The program provides monthly benefits to disabled-worker beneficiaries and their spouses and children.
Sources: Nation's Disabled Work Program Mired In Corruption, Fraud - CNN
The nation's premier federal program that provides work for people who are severely disabled is mired in widespread corruption, financial fraud and violations of the law, numerous sources tell CNN. And instead of helping the severely disabled find work, the taxpayer-funded agency is at times allowing jobs to be taken away from the disabled, the sources say. AbilityOne, along with the nonprofit agency that manages its program for the severely disabled, SourceAmerica, are being investigated by authorities for illegal operations, financial fraud, mismanagement, operating in violation of the law, steering of contracts, and possibly obstruction of justice. Several inside sources tell CNN the program is among the worst cases of its type they've ever seen in a federal agency.
Employee Benefit News
The Americans with Disabilities Act recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. The anniversary kicked off celebrations of, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, the nation’s commitment “to eliminating discrimination against people with disabilities.”
And while even this employer advocate lauds the purposes behind the ADA and the ways it has improved the lives of individuals with disabilities, it is also hard to argue with the argument that ADA has had its fair share of hiccups and generated lawsuits many believe constitute abuse of the ADA for personal gain, particularly in California (including by one individual who does not even reside in California, but reportedly makes an annual trip to the Golden State for the purpose of filing shakedown ADA lawsuits).
Man with snake in restaurant calls it a service animal
KY3
Customers at a restaurant say an unexpected guest in a nearby booth was unappetizing and downright scary. It was carried in the door and allowed to stay through dinner because the man wearing the snake called it his service animal.
Panel Revives ADA Suit By School Bus Driver Who Said She Needed Air Conditioning
Law.com
As Georgia kids head back to school in muggy, 90-degree weather, an Atlanta-based federal appeals court has revived a school bus driver’s lawsuit that claims Clayton County school officials violated federal law by not giving her an air-conditioned bus.
Edith Jeanette Hill, who was placed on unpaid leave in 2009 after she complained she was having difficulty breathing in the hot bus due to a medical condition, sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act. A district court judge tossed the case on summary judgment, but a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit revived the suit on Friday. The judges held that there were factual disputes about whether the school district had reasonably accommodated Hill’s request for a new bus, thereby setting the case up for a jury trial.
Hill’s case is about whether the school district discriminated against her based on a disability by not giving her an air-conditioned bus when she asked for it. But her attorneys also cited news articles highlighting safety concerns about children riding non-air-conditioned buses in hot weather.
According to the Eleventh Circuit’s recitation of the facts, the Clayton County School District hired Hill as a bus driver in 2006. She encountered trouble at the start of the 2009-2010 school year, when she was reassigned a route for special needs students in a bus without air conditioning. She went on a practice run on Aug. 5, 2009, and became so hot and short of breath that she pulled over to the side of the road. Hill, who had been assigned an air-conditioned bus in the past, complained to her supervisors, but they told her that all of the schools air-conditioned buses had been assigned to more senior drivers.
About a week later, she filed a formal request for a bus with air conditioning, attaching two doctors’ statements saying she had breathing difficulties caused by an airway-related physical impairment. The doctors said Hill could do her job if given a bus with air-conditioning.
The school district promptly put Hill on unpaid leave while it considered her request. Two weeks later, the district sent Hill a letter denying her request on the basis that all air-conditioned buses were assigned to other drivers. There is some dispute as to whether the district offered Hill a newly acquired air-conditioned bus that October; Hill says she doesn’t recall such an offer. The district terminated Hill the following March, after she had failed to show up for work for several months.
Hill initially filed her lawsuit without an attorney—asserting claims under the ADA and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Clay Fuller recommended that all of Hill’s claims be dismissed, except for her failure-to-accommodate claim under the ADA. U.S. District Judge Steve Jones granted summary judgment in full to the defense.
Hill appealed, and the court appointed Atlanta attorney Edward Buckley at Buckley Beal to represent her. In an unsigned, unpublished decision, Eleventh Circuit Judge Adalberto Jordan, Senior Judge Joel Dubina and visiting Senior Judge Richard Goldberg of the U.S. Court of International Trade said they agreed with the magistrate judge that the defense was not entitled to summary judgment on the failure-to-accommodate claim. The panel rejected Hill’s attempts to revive her other claims.
The appeals judges said the district judge was wrong on the failure-to-accommodate claim because there were disputes of fact on each of the three elements of such a claim. To prove those elements, Hill must show 1) that she is disabled, 2) that she is qualified to do her job, and 3) she was subjected to unlawful discrimination because of her disability.
As to the first two elements, the school district argued that Hill was not disabled because her condition was temporary, and she was not qualified because her essential job functions involved being exposed to outdoor heat—including for an unpredictable length of time during an emergency bus evacuation. But the panel said the statements of Hill’s doctors that she had chronic breathing issues but could perform her job with reasonable accommodation created a dispute on those points.
The district court judge found that the school district hadn’t discriminated against Hill because of her disability but instead had offered her an air-conditioned bus in October 2009. But the panel said there was a dispute over whether the district had actually made such an offer. The panel indicated it was not convinced that, even if such an offer had been made, it was reasonable for Hill to wait two months for an air-conditioned bus.
“All the school district said was that it would have had to upset its seniority-sensitive bus-allocation process [to provide an air-conditioned bus sooner],” said the panel. Other courts have denied summary judgment to defendants presenting similar “sparse assertions” about an equipment-allocation process, the panel added.
“Moreover, Hill was previously assigned an air-conditioned bus, so it is difficult to understand how reassignment would upset the bus-allocation process in such a way as to cause undue hardship.”
Buckley argued the appeal at the Eleventh Circuit in June, with Randall Farmer of Gregory, Doyle, Calhoun & Rogers in Marietta speaking for the school district. Farmer could not be reached for comment.
An associate of Buckley who worked on the appeal, Rachel Berlin, said her firm handled the appeal pro bono. She called the decision a “really great result” for Hill. “It was nice to see a pro bono case that we could work on that we felt had so much merit,” said Berlin.
Because the decision is unpublished, it is not binding precedent for future cases, although lawyers can cite it as persuasive authority. “If an employee has a disability and requests an accommodation, the employer should accommodate the employee if they can do the essential job duties with the accommodation,” said Berlin.
The case is Hill v. Clayton County School District, No. 13-14951.
Guest Commentary: The ADA is still driving innovation
The Denver Post
This summer, as we mark the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we have many reasons to celebrate the law's legacy and achievements, and the future innovation it will inspire.