7th Circuit lacks conviction for police officer's ADA claim
HR.BLR.com
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), employers may be required to offer reasonable accommodations to qualified employees. Whether an accommodation seems reasonable often is in the eyes of the beholder. A recent opinion from the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals which covers Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin—reminds employers that when it comes to providing a reasonable accommodation, it doesn’t have to result in highway robbery.
Providing reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities- the interactive process
Lexology
Employment lawyers often receive telephone calls and become involved in lawsuits relating to what an employer must do once an employee is deemed disabled or is put on light duty work restrictions by a health care provider.
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), employers are required to provide reasonable accommodations (or changes to the employee’s workplace or job) to employees with disabilities. To effectuate such accommodations, employers are required to engage in a good-faith, interactive process with the employee to determine the precise limitations created by the employee’s disability and what, if any, reasonable accommodations can be made to enable the employee to continue working. Employers are not required to provide accommodations that create an undue hardship on the employer, such as those accommodations that require significant time and/or expense. Accordingly, while an employee might not be entitled to all of the accommodations that they request, an employer may not summarily dismiss the proposed accommodations without first engaging in a good-faith exploration of the efficacy of and alternatives to the proposed accommodations.
Employers can demonstrate a good-faith attempt to engage in the interactive process by meeting face-to-face with the employee, requesting information about the employee’s alleged limitations (including notes from health care providers relevant to the accommodation at issue that relate to the employee’s ability to perform his or her job), considering the employee’s requests, and discussing alternatives to a request if the request requires significant time and/or expense. After engaging in the interactive process with an employee about a reasonable accommodation, an employer should memorialize the conversation in a memo to the employee.
Employers should be mindful that the obligation to provide reasonable accommodations is ongoing. An employer may be required to provide more than one accommodation to an individual employee, and the employer may be required to provide a different accommodation if the nature of employee’s disability changes.
So the next time an employee comes to you with work restrictions or a disability, do not summarily terminate the employee’s employment because you cannot accommodate the restrictions. Engage in the interactive process with the employee to determine alternative arrangements that may permit the employee to return to work without any undue hardship on the company.
So Long, Singleton? Gov. Brown Approves ADA Capital Access Loan Program
The Journal
Local businesses looking to avoid litigation and make their facilities more ADA accessible may soon have access to some extra cash. Gov. Jerry Brown just approved Assembly Bill 1230, creating the California Americans with Disabilities Capital Access Loan Program. The bill transfers $10 million from the State's general fund to provide affordable construction loans to small businesses so they can become ADA compliant.
But the bill is about more than helping ADA customers. It's also intended to help immunize small businesses against predatory litigation. The bill's author, Assembly member Jimmy Gomez, says more than 40 percent of the nation's total ADA lawsuits are filed in California, and the majority of such lawsuits are filed by attorneys motivated by money rather than altruism.
Such lawsuits have impacted several local businesses hit by serial suer, lawyer Jason Singleton, who has filed ADA suits against a few dozen local businesses on behalf of disabled clients. In a 2013 press release, Singleton said he "has done more to improve access for people with disabilities and remove architectural barriers than any one person in the County's history."
Serial litigator suing businesses over disability access
White Bear Press
Several area business and property owners are being targeted by a serial lawsuit filer alleging their buildings aren't adequately accessible to people with disabilities.
Among the approximately 100 lawsuits now filed by an organization fronted by a Minneapolis attorney, there are at least five involving White Bear area businesses. The owner of a pizza chain franchise in downtown White Bear Lake is being sued because of a step up to its front door. A White Bear Lake restaurant is facing a suit claiming it doesn't have enough handicapped parking spaces. Two property owners and a liquor store owner in Willernie and a restaurant and property owner in Mahtomedi are being sued because they don't have a handicap parking space marked with a sign and paint in front of their buildings.