DOJ: Proposed Web Accessibility Guidelines Coming in 2018
Lexology
The Department of Justice announced that it will take another three years to develop the proposed regulations for making websites accessible to the disabled that will comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Does ADA require nursing homes to admit obese patients?
ABA Journal
Rising obesity rates in the United States are creating new dilemmas for nursing homes confronted with the increasing costs of caring for overweight patients.
Nursing homes throughout the United States are routinely declining referrals from hospitals that want to transfer obese patients, the New York Times reports. “Whether these routine denials violate anti-discrimination laws is unclear,” the Times says, “especially because the degree to which obesity is a legally protected disability remains unsettled.”
UPS defends practices after disability lawsuit filed by deaf man who wants sign language interpreter
The Pennsylvania Record
In a complaint filed on Nov. 16 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, United Parcel Service was accused by a hearing-impaired employee of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.
In the claim, employee Michael McDonald stated that he was not provided proper accommodations for his disability, mainly that he was never provided an American sign language interpreter.
UPS has addressed similar claims on a larger scale in the past. In 2003, UPS settled a discrimination lawsuit brought by at least 1,000 hearing-impaired workers for $10 million. The settlement not only compensated those workers, it was touted as being “precedent-setting” by disability rights advocates, as quoted in a 2003 New York Times article.
JetBlue crew member's ADA lawsuit reinstated
Business Insurance
A federal appeals court has reinstated a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by an inflight crew member against JetBlue Airways Inc., stating she has successfully argued she was disabled and may have been fired because of it.
Shari Dooley was terminated by JetBlue in September 2013 because she had allegedly violated company policy regarding attendance or dependability, according to court papers in Shari Dooley v. JetBlue Airways Corp.
Ms. Dooley filed suit in U.S. District Court in New York in June 2014, alleging violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, among other charges. The court dismissed the case and Ms. Dooley appealed.
A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York reinstated Ms. Dooley’s ADA claim on Friday. Ms. Dooley, who said she had suffered a fracture and has nerve damage, has plausibly claimed she was disabled, said the ruling.
The circumstances of her termination also raise an inference of discrimination, said the appeals court. JetBlue ordinarily follows a progressive discipline policy regarding dependability that includes a multistep process, but Ms. Dooley was not afforded any of these steps, said the ruling.
Manhattan Woman Suing NYPD Claims Cops Denied Her Sign Language Interpreter
CBS Local
As CBS2’s Brian Conybeare reported, she claims
the department broke the law because she’s deaf and was denied special assistance.
The real cost of depression at work
Irish Times
The workforce in the United States is in crisis as a silent epidemic eats away at the economy through lost productivity and underperformance. More importantly, if this health crisis is left unchecked, it will cost lives. It’s not Aids, cancer or diabetes. It’s clinical depression.
Among adults who have been employed in the last 12 months, more than one in 10 have missed work days because they were too anxious (14 per cent) or too depressed (16 per cent) to go to work, according to a September 2015 Harris Poll for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Depression affects 9.5 per cent of the adult population in the United States and translates to 200 million lost workdays each year. That’s four million lost days a week.
Terra, hearing-impaired ex-student settle suit
Fremont News Messenger
Terra State Community College will pay a former nursing student $75,000 to settle a federal lawsuit in which she claimed she was discriminated against because she is hearing-impaired.
Shirley Parrott-Copus sued the college in United States District Court in Toledo in August alleging she was discriminated against because of a hearing disability and in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
Employers - What Do You Do With a Drunk Employee?
Lexology
We often hear the questions: Can an employer fire an employee for being drunk? Or for being an alcoholic? If the answer is “yes,” then when?
Big settlement for Hamilton County woman fired for having diabetes
Indianapolis Star
A diabetic Hamilton County woman who lost her job as a Wayne Township Fire Department paramedic has settled a federal discrimination lawsuit with the township for $725,000, marking what is likely the largest amount awarded in Indiana under the Americans with Disabilities Act for someone with diabetes.
Can My Website Subject My Business to Liability Under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)?
JD Supra
It may come as a surprise that the answer to the above question is yes, or so a number of plaintiffs claim in lawsuits that have been filed recently in the U.S. More specifically, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, dozens of cases have been filed by plaintiffs against large national businesses such as the NBA, Brooks Brothers, Toys “R” Us and others asserting that their websites violate the ADA because they fail to provide reasonable accommodations to disabled persons. Many of these cases remain pending, although others have settled. Many other companies continue to receive demand letters presenting proposed settlement agreements involving payments in lieu of hefty fines or damages awards, which the recipients of these letters are being “asked” to sign, or face the initiation of litigation against them.
Document every ADA accommodation offer
Business Management Daily
Sometimes, an employee doesn’t want to ask for disability accommodations, even though it would help him perform his job. Regardless, document your offer to accommodate.
That could be a legal life-saver if you ever have to terminate the employee for poor performance.
Recent case: Ed worked as an MRI tech at a New York hospital.
Despite 15 years of experience, he received consistently poor evaluations. Ed’s supervisor criticized his bedside manner as well as his technical skills—he once allowed a patient to wear a jewelry during an exam, which could have been deadly.
Ed fell at home and hit his head. The resulting hematoma required a lengthy FMLA leave to recover. He also developed diabetes and other medical problems. When he returned from FMLA leave, his supervisor asked if Ed needed anything else to perform his job better. Ed said he didn’t need an accommodation, training or anything else.
Over the next few months, Ed’s performance remained substandard. His boss again asked several times if Ed needed help doing his job successfully. Ed always denied needing any assistance or being disabled.
Finally, the hospital terminated Ed for poor performance. He applied for Social Security disability benefits, alleging he could no longer work. But he also sued under the ADA, alleging failure to accommodate his disabilities. But the hospital could demonstrate that it had made repeated accommodation offers.
The court dismissed Ed’s case, since it was he who had refused to engage in the interactive accommodations process, not the hospital. (Estrada v. St. Francis Hospital, No. 13-CV-1243, ED NY, 2015)
Understanding Disability: Need for caregivers in state grows, data shows
Santa Fe New Mexican
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the U.S. Census Bureau created a demographic snapshot of the U.S. population with a disability, and examined various services available to them.
Disabled people still dogged by confusion over service dogs
Allentown Morning Call
Kevin Teeple has used a service dog to help him with his epilepsy for four years. He's never been challenged when bringing his dog into a public place, though he knew it could happen at any time.