Lawsuit: Reading taxi firm overcharged disabled man
Reading Eagle
A disabled Reading man is suing a city taxi company for charging him higher rates for using the company's wheelchair-accessible vehicles.
Make sure job descriptions reflect reality
Business Management Daily
Usually, courts rely on the job descriptions employers provide when deciding whether an ADA accommodation adequately helped a disabled employee perform the essential functions of a job. However, if an employee can show that the job description doesn’t accurately or completely describe the work she actually performs, the court may decide to take the employee’s word for what the job really involves.
That’s yet another reason you should regularly update job descriptions and get the employee’s sign off that the description really does reflect the job. Annual review time is a great opportunity to have that conversation.
Recent case: Beatrice, a nurse for Vicksburg Healthcare, tore her rotator cuff and had shoulder surgery to repair the injury. She took 12 weeks of FMLA leave to have the operation and recover afterward.
Uber, Lyft essential to disabled
Albany Times Union
There has been a large and growing public demand upstate for ride-hailing services to expand from companies such as Uber and Lyft. They already exist in New York City and many other parts of the country. They are another transportation option similar to and in competition with taxis.
Customers are mostly satisfied. There is one problem. They are not accessible to people with disabilities.
The companies say they are in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, but that may only be partially true. Customers can contact them using a phone app, and that part of it might be in compliance. For a person who uses a wheelchair and is not able to transfer out of it into a regular car seat, without an accessible vehicle that service is not usable.
Before these services are allowed by the state of New York to expand upstate, they must be required by law to be completely accessible. If this is done from the beginning, then it won't be necessary to argue and fight to rectify the inaccessibility that will happen as soon as the business starts.
When the ADA was first signed into law in 1990, certain businesses, such as taxis, were not required to adapt and comply. Now that minivans and other customizable vehicles are being used in the taxi business, there is no reason why such passenger vehicles cannot be accessible. It is already a requirement across the Atlantic in London, and all taxis over there are accessible. While the ADA could still be amended to require this, that hasn't happened yet.
Know the Law: The ADA and mental health conditions
The Union Leader
Q: Are employees with mental health conditions protected from discrimination and harassment under the Americans with Disabilities Act in the same way as employees with physical disabilities?
A: Generally yes. The ADA defines "disability" broadly, and the federal agency that enforces the ADA, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, along with the courts, have considered a wide range of mental health conditions to be disabilities under the statute.Unsurprisingly, the EEOC also takes a liberal approach regarding what accommodations an employer must afford employees with a mental health condition that qualifies as a disability. In fact, the agency recently issued a "resource document" on the rights of job applicants and employees with mental health conditions, which affirms the breadth of its interpretation of what constitutes a reasonable accommodation. While the document is not binding law, it is a useful resource for employers and employees alike on what the agency is likely to find permissible and the new guidance on reasonable accommodations is particularly notable.
Colorado Mountain College to spend $300K on student mental health services
Summit Daily News
Many students enrolled in the Colorado Mountain College system are balancing school with family and work. Sometimes, they’re even taking on multiple jobs to get ahead.
Lisa Doak, CMC’s assistant vice president for student services, said that frazzling dynamic could set the stage for mental health issues down the road.
Disabilities act a shakedown vehicle?
San Diego Reader
On December 29, San Diegan Chris Langer filed a suit against the Cotter Company and Cotter Church Supplies of Los Angeles. In the suit, Langer complained that the company violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Unruh Civil Rights Act, which incorporates the ADA.