Kaiser Aluminum Corporation, the leading producer of fabricated aluminum products in the United States, will pay $175,000 and reinstate its hiring offer to a qualified production worker to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
According to the EEOC's suit, Kaiser withdrew its job offer for production work at its Trentwood mill in Spokane after Donald McMurray's medical records showed a workplace injury from over 10 years ago. The EEOC found that McMurray, with a long history of construction work at the time, was a well-qualified candidate fully capable of meeting the job's physical demands.
Hr Morning
Here’s a tricky scenario for any HR pro: You have reason to believe that an employee, an employee who has suddenly started showing increasingly erratic behavior, is actually becoming a threat to herself or her co-workers. What can you do?
Can you require that worker to undergo an independent medical exam before returning to work?
Credit Union Times
The number of credit unions hit with lawsuits in recent weeks over the accessibility of their websites continued to climb into double digits, and experts warned that even more credit unions could become targets if they don't get up to speed on the issue.
The suits center around claims that credit unions’ websites violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability for equal enjoyment of goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages or accommodations in places of public accommodation. The Department of Justice's ADA website states that discrimination includes failing to modify policies, practices or procedures to make things accessible, unless doing so would create an undue burden.
New Hampshire Business Review
A federal class-action lawsuit filed in 2015 against Harvard University might well portend a new compliance challenge for New Hampshire businesses: website accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The suit, National Association of the Deaf v. Harvard University — along with a companion case filed simultaneously against neighboring MIT — alleges that free online courses and video content offered by Harvard to the general public did not have appropriate closed captioning, thereby making the content inaccessible to hearing impaired individuals in violation of the ADA.
The Retriever
Recently there has been an influx of lawsuits against colleges that do not have websites accessible to students with disabilities. These lawsuits were all won by the plaintiff, Emanuel Delacruz, who is blind. Applying to college is one of the hardest tasks that a young adult undertakes. So it stands to reason that the application process becomes even more difficult when people with disabilities have to face more hurdles that limit their accessibility.
Official college websites are an important aspect in anyone’s search for a school that is right for them. Without providing closed captioning for the hearing impaired or audio descriptions for the blind, college websites are essentially violating the Americans with Disabilities Act according to the ruling.
Lexology
The onslaught of class action lawsuits alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), based on the alleged failure to maintain ADA compliant websites that are accessible to the blind and visually impaired, highlighted in previous legal alerts, has continued unabated. According to a recently published New York Times article, approximately 432 website ADA accessibility class actions have been filed in the first eight months of this year. This number represents a nearly two-fold increase over the estimated 250 lawsuits filed in all of 2015 and 2016 combined. While these lawsuits have traditionally been aimed at companies in the retail and hospitality industry, more recent suits have expanded to focus on the insurance, financial and educational sectors.
The Business Journals
This year, shipping giant UPS agreed to pay a total of $2 million to nearly 90 current and former UPS employees to resolve a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Part of the suit alleged that the company maintained an inflexible leave policy that unfairly terminated disabled employees when they reached 12 months of leave without engaging in what is known as the “interactive process” required by law under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Lexology
Employers in the retail sector are constantly faced with the balancing act of relying on their workforce to operate a profitable business while also managing employees who are unable to work at full capacity due to an illness or disability. The patchwork of laws and regulations requiring employers to provide leave or accommodation can overlap with one another, creating uncertainty as to when employers can terminate sick or disabled employees. For example, it is a common scenario for an employee to exhaust his/her 12-week medical leave under the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) and then request additional leave as an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”).
Delgado Community College is facing accusations of discrimination this week after two of its deaf students claimed in a lawsuit the college is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.
A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday (Oct. 25) by the Bizer & DeReus law firm alleges students Lee Em Bruce and Ronneka Smith have been denied the auxiliary aids and services necessary to communicate with employees and professors in a manner "equivalent" to persons with hearing. Bruce and Smith primarily communicate in American Sign Language, the document added.
Uber is facing litigation from three New Orleans resident claiming the ride-share company does not offer the same ADA-access services that it provides in other cities.
STL.News
Five newly constructed apartment complexes in St. Louis and St. Charles counties are accused of not meeting accommodations for the disabled.
On Thursday, the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing and Opportunity Council filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for construction violations, alleging limited accessibility for the disabled. Will Jordan, EHOC Executive Director, said during a news conference at Paraquad, this is part of a yearlong investigation, “In 2017, architects, builders, and developers should all, and I mean all, know the basic requirements for accessibility and the HUD requirements are absolutely the basic. Instead, our investigation found egregious design and construction violations for that limit housing opportunities and choices for persons with disabilities.”
SYS-CON Media
National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) is a celebration of the contributions of disabled individuals to the workplace and of the organizations that support inclusivity. The movement was created in 1945, after Congress declared the first week in October "National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week." It has evolved into a month-long celebration of all of the values that make inclusion and disability awareness so important.
Observing and celebrating the NDEAM movement is a great way to promote awareness about the challenges and unique benefits of being a disabled employee, and to further foster a sense of community, compassion, and inclusion in your workplace.