Proposed Consent Decree: City of Ocean Springs, Mississippi | Complaint | Press Release
Settlement Agreement: DeSpain Rental, LLC
Voluntary Compliance Agreement: Lehman College Center for the Performing Arts, Inc.
Congress finds cause to agree on: Disability assistance
USA TODAY
Congress is set to approve the first major piece of legislation affecting Americans with disabilities in nearly 25 years with sweeping, bipartisan support.
"It's a good opportunity to show how we can work together," said Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla., the lead House sponsor of the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act.
With 381 House sponsors and 74 Senate sponsors ranging on the ideological spectrum from conservative Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., to liberal Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the ABLE Act boasts 85% of Congress as a co-sponsor.
It's a distinction shared by no other major piece of legislation taken up by this Congress. The bill is the biggest piece of legislation to affect disabled Americans since the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.
Angel Medical Center to Pay $85,000 to Settle EEOC Disability Discrimination Suit
Angel Medical Center, Inc., a full-service critical access hospital located in Franklin, N.C., will pay $85,000 and furnish other relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC had charged that the hospital unlawfully refused to accommodate a nurse undergoing cancer treatments and subsequently fired her because of her disability.
According to the EEOC's lawsuit, Susan Williams began working for Angel Medical Center in December 2009 as a full-time registered nurse. In December 2011, following an absence for treatment for cancer, Williams attempted to return to work at the hospital. At the time, she was still undergoing chemotherapy treatments. According to the suit, Williams sought an accommodation that would allow her to complete the necessary chemotherapy treatments while remaining a full-time employee. The EEOC alleged that the hospital refused to accommodate Williams and instead fired her.
TheBlaze.com
“We give no accommodations to nursing mothers,” the American Board of Internal Medicine wrote to the Indiana University physician, according to her post.
“I was astounded by ABIM’s response. First, how could a medical society take a position so antithetical to the medical evidence (The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding at least one year)?” McInerney wrote. “Second, where did the ADA come into this? I don’t consider myself disabled and am not requesting accommodations as such. I am simply trying to do what I believe is best for my baby.
“Equally shocking was some of the feedback I got from fellow physicians. While some supported me in challenging the ABIM’s policy, others suggested I postpone the exam for a year, or even that I stop breastfeeding altogether,” the mother continued. “Is this what it means to be a working mother? Why should I have to choose between continuing to breastfeed and remaining on track with my career?”
Testing Job Applicants For Carpal Tunnel Violates ADA: EEOC Lawsuit
Mondaq News Alerts
An Illinois manufacture of steel castings for the rail industry was just sued by the EEOC for allegedly violating the ADA. The EEOC alleges that the company illegally asks job applicants if they "have a history of carpal tunnel syndrome and gives them a nerve conduction tests." See: http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/11-20-14.cfm.
Although the EEOC press release does not clearly explain the company's professed need for such questions or the nerve test, it may be assumed that the company certainly views these as job-related.
In any event, the EEOC said that "the most current relevant published medical literature does not support the use of such tests alone, or the use of prior medical history alone, to predict the development of carpal tunnel. ... The result of these practices, according to the agency, was to deny employment opportunities to a class of people who had a history of carpal tunnel syndrome or who [the company] believed might develop that condition."
Mental Health and the Workplace — Accommodations
JD Supra
Depression. Anxiety. Bipolar Disorder.
These and similar mental health diagnoses may affect your boss, the CEO of your company, the head of HR, your assistant, two of your peer workers, or maybe even you.
And their symptoms may also affect how well employees perform their jobs. Just as with physical disorders, mental disorders that rise to the level of qualifying as a “disability” under the Americans with Disabilities Act (and similar state and local laws) require the employer to provide accommodations to allow the employee to perform essential job functions. This article explores some of the steps you should be taking as an employer of someone with a mental disability — and the first step is to start the process with patience. As a wise colleague of mine recently told me, “Patience is a weapon. Use it aggressively.”
Critical Care Hospital Which Fired Nurse Who Needed Chemotherapy Settles With EEOC
Mondaq News Alerts
If you were a critical care hospital would you fire a nurse with cancer who asked for an accommodation to get chemotherapy? Even if you had meritorious grounds, would you do it, given the stark appearance of an ADA violation, as well as the horrendous publicity?
We wrote about such a case in a post a year ago called "Critical Care Hospital Fires Nurse Who Asked For Chemo Accommodation." It discussed a newly-filed EEOC suit against a North Carolina full-service critical access hospital for refusing to accommodate a registered nurse's need for cancer chemo treatments, and then firing her.
We asked then: "What were they thinking?"
We don't know, but after a year of litigation with the EEOC, the facility has just agreed to a settlement of $85,000.
It was only a matter of time.
And an EEOC attorney underscored our constant warning that the EEOC was targeting health care facilities for alleged ADA discrimination: "One would hope that hospitals and other health care facilities would understand and respect an employee's need for an accommodation resulting from cancer treatments."