Bill Aims To Expand California's Paid Family Leave Program
California Healthline
California lawmakers are considering a bill (AB 908) that would increase the amount of paid time off Californians can take to care for a sick family member or bond with a new child, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.
Mondaq News Alerts
Most employers are well aware that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects qualified individuals with disabilities against discrimination on the basis of disability and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities, if those accommodations do not pose an undue hardship for the employer. However, a recent court decision reminds employers that even individuals without disabilities may be protected from discrimination under the ADA due to their association with another person who has a disability.
Disabilities: Courts need actual medical evidence in cases
HR.BLR.com
Employers frequently call with concerns about employees who self-disclose an alleged disabling condition that isn't readily apparent and claim substantial limitations as a result. The employers' concerns center on when their duty to accommodate kicks in.
3 types of associational discrimination claims
Lexology
Most employers (we hope) are well aware that the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against “qualified individuals with a disability.” Nevertheless, many employers may not realize that the ADA also protects applicants and employees from discrimination based on their relationship or association with an individual who has a disabling condition. Generally speaking, there are three types of associational discrimination claims:
- “Expense” discrimination
Employer fears that association with disabled person will be costly to the employer.
- “Disability by association”
A relationship with a disabled person means employee may also be disabled.
- “Distraction”
A relationship with a disabled person will prevent the employee from completing job responsibilities.
A recent case in Ohio (Crossley v. City of Coshocton 2:13-CV-804) provides an example of an associational discrimination case of the “expense” variety. In this case, an employee was discharged two days after her employer received a $20,000 medical bill for her husband’s cancer surgery. The employee’s supervisor also allegedly complained that adding her spouse to the employee’s medical benefits would be costly for the employer. The employee ultimately was able to survive summary judgment on her ADA associational discrimination claim based on this evidence.
What can we learn from this case? Well written and widely disseminated EEO policies, along with regular anti-discrimination/harassment training, are necessary to avoiding costly litigation down the line. Where an employer has knowledge of a potential associational claim, it needs to be extra vigilant in documenting its legitimate, non-discriminatory business reason for the adverse employment action at issue.
City and County of San Francisco v. Sheehan
In City and County of San Francisco v. Sheehan [transcript, PDF] the court heard arguments on whether [SCOTUSblog backgrounder] police violated a disabled woman's rights under the Fourth Amendment and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) [official website]. Teresa Sheehan suffers from a mental illness and lived in a group home in San Francisco. After attempting attacks on her social worker and others in the home, the social worker called the authorities claiming that she was a danger to others in the home. Police arrived without a warrant and instead of waiting for backup when Sheehan became aggressive, they attempted to enter the room where Sheehan resided. She attacked the officers with a knife, and they were forced to shoot her. The court is considering [Oyez summary] whether her Fourth Amendment rights to be free from warrantless search and seizure have been violated when there is anticipated resistance of an armed and violent subject, as well as whether the ADA requires authorities to provide "accommodations" to a violent, armed and mentally ill person.
Kohler v. Bed Bath and Beyond of California, LLC
The Recorder
Congress passed the ADA in 1990 "to provide clear, strong, consistent, enforceable standards addressing discrimination against individuals with disabilities.
Terminated Virginia employee has valid emotional distress claim
HR.BLR.com
Generally, emotional distress claims are very difficult to win, and they often do not survive the early stages of litigation. Nonetheless, Virginia courts have found viable emotional distress claims in cases in which a termination results in distress and emotions similar to feelings that accompany physical harm. A recent decision by a magistrate judge in Harrisonburg, Virginia emphasizes the need for employers to take steps to prevent emotional distress claims by terminated employees.
NYC Courthouses Inaccessible for the Disabled, Report Finds
New York Law Journal
New York City's courthouses and holding pens are rife with problems—from a lack of elevators for people who use wheelchairs to poorly marked, separate entrances—that make them inaccessible or unduly difficult to navigate for people with physical disabilities, according to a new report.
Some detainees in Manhattan who are in wheelchairs have been carried down flights of stairs by jail guards after arrest to be booked and processed, while in Staten Island improvised criminal court proceedings for defendants in wheelchairs are moved to the first floor because there's no elevator to the second floor courtroom, the investigation by the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest found.
"One thing we found was that the only way for a person who has a mobility impairment to access a courthouse is through a makeshift arrangement that negatively draws attention to his or her disability," said Navin Pant, a staff attorney and a co-author of the 20-page report which was released on Tuesday.
Judge approves settlement in disabled inmates case
Santa Cruz Sentinel
The agreement came six years after attorneys filed the class-action suit alleging discrimination and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Eighth and 14th amendments.
In addition to making housing and toilets more accessible to the disabled, the agreement requires the sheriff's department to develop a new system to deliver working wheelchairs to inmates; provide equal access to employment, educational and vocation programs; and appoint a coordinator to address complaints from inmates or their relatives.
The department will be required to create a document outlining inmate rights within the next months and begin taking steps toward implementing training for staff and tracking inmates with mobility impairments.
Squeeze Inn owner joins fight against costly ADA lawsuits
KCRA Sacramento
Sacramento business owner who was sued on complaints that he violated the Americans with Disabilities Act is joining another legal bout to give small business owners more time to comply with violations before it's too late.
Family sues youth football association alleging lack of accommodation for deaf sons
Minnesota Public Radio News
A Fridley couple has filed a federal lawsuit against their local youth football association alleging discrimination because club leaders didn't allow a special drum at games for their two deaf boys.
David and Gloria Nathanson, who also are deaf, said their sons, identified in the lawsuit as D.N. and G.N., were 8 and 6 years old when they played tackle and flag football with the Spring Lake Park Panther Youth Football Association during the 2014 season.
The family is used to lugging their own bass drum to football practices and games. The drum's vibrations allowed the boys to sense when the ball is snapped and play starts.
But the youth football association says the drum helped opposing teams react faster, so the group stopped allowing it.
The family filed the lawsuit earlier this month against the volunteer-run, nonprofit association and its top four leaders individually. The Nathansons allege violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Minnesota Human Rights Act.
Ferris wheel supposed to have wheelchair-accessible gondola
Quad City Times
When the Quad-Cities River Bandits hosts the first home game of the season on April 12, the Ferris wheel that helped deliver record fans to Davenport's Modern Woodmen Park last year won't be running.
Work is under way to retrofit one of the gondolas so that the Ferris wheel can be brought up to Americans with Disabilities Act standards.
Editorial: ADA rules shouldn't apply to potentially violent standoffs
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
Should law enforcement officers be required to make reasonable accommodations under the Americans With Disabilities Act when trying to arrest armed and violent suspects who are mentally ill?
The U.S. Supreme Court is considering that question as it relates to the government’s responsibility to make reasonable accommodations when arresting people who have mental or physical disabilities.
The answer would reasonably seem to be no, because there is no way for law enforcement to make accommodations without putting their lives and the lives of the public at greater risk. Police should approach every situation with the idea that nobody will get hurt.
In addition, how could officers know for certain if the suspect is mentally ill or has some other disability?
After all, it is not as if the mentally ill can be identified by simply looking at them. Sometimes those who are mentally ill are not even aware, nor are their families.