Parents with Disabilities Face Extra Hurdles with Kids' Remote Schooling
The Americans with Disabilities Act says schools have to help not just students but parents with disabilities, too, like making sure deaf or blind parents can communicate during parent-teacher conferences. But what happens when kids are learning at home? That’s uncharted territory.
Rosabella Manzanares, a first grader at Betsy Ross Elementary in Forest Park, Ill., has a spelling test. Like so many kids around the country, she’s taking the test at home, sharing a Zoom screen with a class full of other boisterous 6-year-olds. Rosabella’s teacher relies on parents to grade simple assignments like this. But while Rosabella can hear the spelling words, her mother cannot.
Chantelly Manzanares uses American Sign Language, or ASL, which is different than English. It’s a visual language. It has its own grammar. It uses different sentence structure. Rosabella and her siblings grew up using ASL. But while they’ve become fluent in English, Manzanares is not. She can grade this spelling test, which Rosabella holds up to the screen with a big smile. But it can be tough for Manzanares to help with other work in English.
Manzanares signs that she doesn’t want to burden Rosabella with too much interpreting. Nor does teacher Peggy Perry. So, they’re finding their way through it.
“A lot of times what I’ll do now,” says Perry, “is, before we hang up, I’ll say, ‘Rosabella, I want to see you tell mommy that we have science at 1:30.’ And that seems to be working really well. Because we can’t expect 6 year olds to remember everything, right?”
Manzanares can text Perry if she needs to. Perry has downloaded an app that lets her and Manzanares see a live ASL interpreter on screen. Manzanares says she feels more supported now than when the pandemic began. But not all parents are feeling that way.
Robyn Powell, co-investigator with the National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities at Brandeis University, says that even before the pandemic, schools haven’t always lived up to their commitment to accommodate parents and caregivers with disabilities.
“So the pandemic has really, I think, exposed longstanding inequities that have always existed,” says Powell, “but really the pandemic has brought them to life. And it’s also shown us what we don’t know.”
Schools might not know, for example, how to support a blind parent or caregiver who is now expected to help her child practice her handwriting-writing she can’t see.
Powell’s Center recently held a Twitter chat for parents and caregivers with a range of disabilities, and she says many expressed frustration over what schools are expecting of them with online learning at home. Powell says she can see how the ADA could be used to make an argument for providing parents more support during online learning. But the argument hasn’t been tested.
Hearing Talk of a COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate? Here's What the EEOC Recommends
To help employers navigate health and safety guidelines, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission continues to update guidance that aims to answer common questions about what a company can and cannot do.
In December, the agency updated its guidelines to include information about the COVID-19 vaccine.
“It talks about if you mandate a vaccine, here are the things you need to consider,” said Arthur Wolfson, a partner with Fisher Phillips in Pittsburgh.
Based on the most recent update, most lawyers conclude that businesses can require the vaccine as long as they provide certain exemptions, including for medical reasons under the Americans With Disabilities Act and religious beliefs under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
Here’s some of what the guidance lays out:
- If an employer requires vaccinations, how should it respond to an employee who indicates they are unable to receive the vaccine because of a disability?
- Is asking or requiring an employee to show proof of receipt of a COVID-19 vaccination a disability-related inquiry?
- If an employer requires vaccinations, how should it respond to employees who indicate they are unable to receive a vaccination because of a sincerely held religious belief?
- What happens if an employer cannot exempt or provide a reasonable accommodation to an employee who cannot comply with a mandatory vaccine policy because of a disability or sincerely held religious practice or belief?
Be Careful About Vaccine Incentives
EEOC wellness and disabilities rules can cause complications.
Disability Employment Toolkit for Small Businesses Available
The Northeast ADA Center recently unveiled a new resource to help small businesses successfully hire and retain employees with disabilities.
A no-cost, web-based resource, the Small Business at Work Toolkit offers information and essential resources exploring how small businesses can capitalize on the talents of workers and job seekers with disabilities and the bottom line benefits of doing so. It also features easy-to-understand, practical advice on disability employment best practices, along with expert guidance on following Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The toolkit was developed based on the findings of a 2019 research study focused on small business and disability employment conducted by the Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability at Cornell University.
Recognizing that many small businesses operate with small or limited human resources (HR) departments, the toolkit’s creators developed a centralized, easy-to-navigate resource that provides the information small businesses need, when they need it. Guidance is segmented into eight relevant categories including the business case for disability inclusion; the ADA’s implications in a small business; recruiting and hiring people with disabilities; providing workplace accommodations; responding to the COVID-19 pandemic; and more.
5 Reasons Why a Website Screen Reader Is Necessary for Any Business
Website accessibility has quickly become one of the most controversial issues in the legal and technological fields. Many businesses try to save money by omitting the necessary technologies that allow people with various disabilities to view and interact with their websites.
Today, it is a known industry practice, that businesses should comply with the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) standards, and meet the 508 compliance testing requirements, that enable everyone equal access to their content.
While companies strive to increase their profitability, they sometimes forget to fulfil their moral and social obligations to ensure everyone has equal access to the content they’re creating.
One of the essential features to ensure equal website accessibility is implementing a website screen reader; a vital source of gaining access to the information for people with impairments. We’ve constructed a list of the five reasons you should make sure that your business website is accessible to all and meets the ADA compliance requirements.
Employer Fitness for Duty Policy Survives Disability Discrimination Claim
A district court ruled that a long-time railroad trackman, who was pulled from service following safety complaints from his coworkers and supervisors, failed to prove that he was considered disabled under the ADA, and failed to prove that his employer (the railroad) violated the ADA when it required him to undergo a “fitness for duty” medical exam following his removal from service. Owen v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., No. 8:19CV462 (D. Neb. Nov. 12, 2020).
In Owen, coworkers observed a long-time trackman struggling to get around, having trouble breathing, and having trouble kneeling and standing. One of the coworkers shared his concerns about the trackman’s ability to perform his physically demanding job duties safely with a group supervisor. After observing the trackman’s conduct himself, the group supervisor contacted a railroad manager to report the trackman’s concerning behavior. After reviewing the concerns of managers, supervisors, and the company physician, the trackman’s manager pulled him from service and sent him home, fearing that the trackman would injure himself or others if he remained on the job. Having received credible information raising concerns about the trackman’s ability to perform his job duties safely, the manager instructed the trackman to undergo a fitness for duty examination, which was consistent with the railroad’s policies.
When he was not permitted to return to work, the trackman sued the railroad for alleged violations of the ADA. The railroad ultimately moved for summary judgment. On November 12, 2020, the court ruled in favor of the railroad.
First, the district court found that the trackman’s claim could not survive because he did not qualify as disabled under the ADA. Second, it found the railroad’s safety concerns qualified as a legitimate, nondiscriminatory basis for the trackman’s removal from service. Third, it found the medical examination did not violate the ADA because it was job-related, vital to the company’s business, and “no broader or more intrusive than necessary.”
This case highlights the importance of considering ADA implications when acting on physical safety concerns of an employee.
Seventh Circuit Continues to Find that Lengthy Leaves of Absence May Not Be Reasonable Accommodations Under the ADA
On December 30, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued its opinion in McAllister v. Innovation Ventures, LLC, No. 20-1779 (7th Cir., Dec. 30 2020), and held that an employer did not violate the ADA where it terminated its employee after it became clear that she would require several additional months of leave after she had already been granted a two-and-a-half-month leave of absence due to her disability. The Seventh Circuit’s opinion in McAllister expanded on its previous opinion in Severson v. Heartland Woodcraft, Inc., 872 F.3d 476 (7th Cir. 2017), in which it held that a request for a two-to-three-month leave of absence following the expiration of the plaintiff’s FMLA leave entitlement was not a reasonable accommodation under the ADA. Jackson Lewis’s analysis of the Severson opinion can be found here.
In McAllister, the plaintiff, who had been employed by the defendant as an assembly worker, began a medical leave of absence after suffering significant injuries in a car accident in June 2016. In connection with her application for short-term disability benefits and FMLA leave, her doctor certified that she could not perform “any & all” job functions and that she was “totally disabled (unable to work).” After her anticipated return to work date was extended multiple times, the defendant terminated her employment in December 2016 after learning that she would not be able to return to work in any capacity until February 2017. While the plaintiff claimed that the defendant had failed to offer her a reasonable accommodation in violation of the ADA, the Seventh Circuit held, in affirming summary judgment for the employer, that because her doctor had made clear she could not return to work in any capacity, she could not establish that she was a “qualified individual” with a disability under the ADA. The Seventh Circuit noted that an employer “is entitled to rely” on the assessment of an employee’s physician regarding an employee’s ability to safely perform the essential functions of his or her job, notwithstanding contrary testimony provided by the employee.
The Seventh Circuit also rejected the plaintiff’s claim that the defendant should have offered her additional leave as a reasonable accommodation, citing its previous holding in Severson that a “multimonth leave of absence is beyond the scope of a reasonable accommodation under the ADA.” The Court stated that the four months of leave requested by the plaintiff, on top of the two-and-a-half months she had previously been granted, was “plainly not a reasonable accommodation,” as affording her such prolonged leave would have “effectively excuse[d] her inability to work, which the ADA does not require of employers.”
Although the McAllister decision reiterates the Seventh Circuit’s view that the ADA is not a leave statute, a notable win for employers, the Court reiterated that “[w]hether a requested accommodation is reasonable or not is a highly fact-specific inquiry.” Thus, employers should continue to evaluate leave requests on a case-by-case basis.