EZEFLOW USA, Inc. Will Pay $65,000 to Settle EEOC Disability Discrimination Lawsuit
The EEOC charged that Iraq and Afghanistan U.S. Marine Corps veteran Adam Brant, who worked as a maintenance technician, requested six weeks of unpaid medical leave when he experienced seizures caused by service-related disabilities. EZEFLOW USA denied the request because Brant was still a probationary employee. Even though EZEFLOW USA maintains a policy of providing up to 26 weeks of paid leave to non-probationary employees, the company refused to provide Brant with unpaid leave as a reasonable accommodation and fired him because of his disability, according to the lawsuit.
JPMorgan Chase Sued for 'Violating' HIV Positive Worker's Rights
EGP News
A lawsuit filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court accuses JPMorgan Chase & Co. of violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) in its treatment of a former employee who is HIV positive.
New legislation targets predatory ADA lawsuits
Modesto Bee
Yet another San Joaquin Valley lawmaker has introduced state legislation to dampen predatory lawsuits against businesses brought in the name of greater access for disabled people.
Sen. Cathleen Galgiani, D-Manteca, this week unveiled Senate Bill 67 to “reduce the profit incentive to file frivolous lawsuits based on minor and technical deficiencies,” she said in a press release.
ADA Defense Lawyer: New ADA standards for website accessibility
JD Supra (press release)
The DOJ’s issuance of website standards is not a matter of “if”, but “when.” The regulations will “establish requirements for making goods, services, facilities, privileges, accommodations, or advantages” offered by state and local government agencies and businesses via the Internet, “specifically at sites on the World Wide Web,” accessible to persons with disabilities.
On November 25, 2014, the DOJ Civil Rights Division issued its Advance Notice of Proposed Rule Making entitled “Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability: Accessibility of Web Information and Services of State and Local Government Entities and Public Accommodations.” These revised regulations, when adopted, will implement web site development standards which the DOJ has been working on for nearly a decade.
The DOJ has solicited public comment on the rules, and the date for announcing the new rules has been extended several times. At this time, announcement for the proposed guidelines for website access for public accommodations has been extended until June 2015.
Employer's requests for medical exam didn't support disability claim
HR.BLR.com
A recent decision from the Ohio 10th District Court of Appeals is a useful reminder that employers may ask employees to undergo medical exams if they have legitimate safety concerns without creating a "regarded as" disability discrimination claim under Ohio law. The case is also a helpful primer on threats made via social media and shows how one employer handled such a situation.
JD Supra
Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”)1 requires states and local governments to operate and maintain public “services, programs or activities” in a manner that is “readily accessible” to the disabled. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has held that the “services, programs or activities” falling within this mandate include virtually “anything a public entity does.” (Barden v. City of Sacramento (9th Cir. 2002) 292 F.3d 1073, 1076.) The level of accessibility required for any particular public “facility” depends in large part on whether the facility predates the January 26, 1992 “effective date” of the ADA. For facilities constructed or altered after January 26, 1992, the new or altered facility must comply with the technical design standards adopted by the United States Department of Justice. For “existing facilities” predating January 26, 1992, the state or local agency must operate its overall service, program or activity in a manner that, when “viewed in its entirety,” is “readily accessible” to the disabled.
Was officer's termination a violation of FMLA, ADA?
HR.BLR.com
The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals—which covers Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota—recently held that a probation officer's termination after he took medical leave wasn't a violation of federal law.
More ADA Enforcement – Effective Communication Requirements for Service Providers
JD Supra (press release)
Recently, the U.S. Department of Justice and Franciscan St. James Health (St. James), a nonprofit health care system providing comprehensive health care at hospitals in Illinois, settled a lawsuit alleging that St. James violated Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12181–12189, and its implementing regulations, 28 C.F.R. Part 36, by failing to provide sign language interpretive services to a patient with a hearing impairment (the complainant). The complainant alleged that during her time as a patient at Chicago Heights Hospital in 2011, she requested on multiple occasions, but was not provided, a sign language interpreter so she could communicate with medical personnel about her condition.
Does the Americans with Disabilities Act Apply to Cops?
ACLU of Northern California (blog)