White House Announces New Disability Resource Guide
JD Supra
A new resource guide for employers to use in working with individuals with disabilities is now available. The new guide, available here and called Recruiting, Hiring, Retaining and Promoting People with Disabilities, was announced by the White House last week and is the product of a cross-agency initiative to increase equal employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. Although authored primarily by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the guide includes participation from the Departments of Education, Labor, Health and Human Services, Justice, and others.
St. Alexius Medical Center of Hoffman Estates To Pay $125,000 to Resolve EEOC Disability Suit
The EEOC charged that the hospital violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to provide a disabled employee, who worked as a greeter, with reasonable accommodations which would have allowed her to do her job and by terminating the employee instead. The former employee suffers from cognitive disabilities, and, according to the agency, she asked for simple accommodations such as written job instructions which would have allowed her to do her job.
The EEOC filed suit, EEOC v. St. Alexius Medical Center, Civil Action No. 12-cv-7646, in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation resolution through its conciliation process. U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman entered the decree resolving the suit. In addition to monetary relief for the former employee, the decree requires the hospital to provide training to its managers and other employees about the ADA, implement policies against disability discrimination, and imposes record-keeping and reporting requirements for the duration of the decree, among other measures.
"The EEOC is hopeful that the measures required by the decree will prevent future disability discrimination by the hospital such as we saw in this case," said John C. Hendrickson, the EEOC's regional attorney for the Chicago District.
Benny Boyd Car Dealership to Pay $250,000 to Former Manager in EEOC Settlement
Benny Boyd Chevrolet-Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, Ltd., d/b/a Benny Boyd Lubbock, and Boyd-Lamesa Management, L.C. will pay $250,000 in damages and back pay to former manager Randall Hurst to settle a federal disability discrimination suit, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced.
Oakland Children's Hospital Settles EEOC Disability Discrimination Suit
An Oakland-based non-profit regional medical center has agreed to pay $300,000 to a former employee with breast cancer and to implement revised policies and training to settle a federal disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced.
Court rejects suit from teacher with fear of children
UPI.com
Yes, there is such a thing as pedophobia, or the fear of children (quite obviously the opposite of pedophilia). One Ohio teacher, Maria Waltherr-Willard, sued a high school at which she formerly worked for moving her to a middle school — and not accommodating her disability, which she claimed was a crippling fear of children.
This may sound ridiculous, but pedophobia is just as real as its opposite, pedophilia, or other seemingly irrational fears. And yes, gerontophobia — or the fear of old people — also exists.
Disabilities: Should disabled California teacher be reassigned to vacant position?
HR.BLR.com
In this case, the employer refused to reassign a disabled employee to a vacant second grade teaching position as a reasonable accommodation. The employee sued, and the employer tried to have her lawsuit thrown out on the grounds that it reasonably accommodated her by giving her medical leaves and reassigning her to teach kindergarten. Read on to find out whether the employer satisfied its legal obligations.
Judge: ABA Needn't Track Disabled Law Students
The National Law Journal
A federal judge in Illinois has dismissed a lawsuit brought by an attorney who claimed the American Bar Association’s failure to collect and disseminate data about law students with disabilities violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.
ADA: Cop's perceived disability claim marches to trial
HR.BLR.com
Inconsistencies in performance feedback, questionable timing, and comments by an evaluator suggesting a perceived disability are enough to send a cop's disability discrimination claim to trial, according to a recent ruling from a federal trial court in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
A Fear of Clowns and a Lesson on the ADA
Workforce Management
Even if coulrophobia is an ADA-protected disability, that's only half of the equation to determine whether the ADA offers job protections to an individual with a disability.
News5 Investigates: Federal agency looking into ADA violations in one southern Colorado city
KOAA.com Colorado Springs and Pueblo News
The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating a series of ADA violations in Trinidad.
The disabled say many of the public buildings like the post office and City Hall along with sidewalks are not accessible.
They addressed concerns with city leaders, but allege they are turning a blind eye to the problem.
Unless you are disabled and use a wheelchair to get around, you probably wouldn't think about whether a door is wide enough for a wheelchair to get through or whether sidewalks have curb ramps to help those with special needs safely cross the street.
There are ADA standards that address these very issues, but they aren't always followed.
Here Is How Use Of Illegal Substances And Alcohol Abuse Are Treated Under The Fair Housing Laws
Mondaq News Alerts
I got a question from a client concerning use of illegal substances and if use of an illegal substance qualified as a disability under applicable fair housing law. The short answer is that individuals who currently use illegal drugs are specifically excluded from protection pursuant to the Fair Housing Act (FHA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). That being said, both federal and state law distinguish between individuals who currently use illegal drugs as contrasted with individuals who are not currently using drugs, but who have a history of addiction.
Workers comp only for distressed nurse after accidental HIV needle stick
Business Insurance
Workers compensation is the exclusive remedy for a health care worker who said her employer subjected her to emotional distress by inquiring about work absences after she was injured on the job, a federal judge has ruled.