DAP Products Sued By EEOC For Disability Discrimination
DAP Products, Inc., a Dallas-based business and a leading manufacturer of home repair and construction products, violated federal law when it refused to allow a capable cancer-stricken employee to return to work and subsequently fired him because of his disability, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed yesterday.
According to EEOC's lawsuit, DAP discharged the employee from his position of production operator because of his prostate cancer, a physical impairment for which he underwent surgery. After a period of leave the employee was capable of safely continuing in his job, but DAP refused to allow him to return to work, and instead forced him to take extended leave. Then, after refusing to allow the employee to return, DAP fired him for having exceeded company leave limitations.
Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which protects employees from discrimination based on their disabilities and requires employer to make reasonable accommodations for known disabilities. EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. DAP Products, Inc., Civil Action No. 3:15-cv-3423-D) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The agency seeks back pay and compensatory and punitive damages for the victim, as well as injunctive relief.
"Under federal law, cancer does not automatically disqualify a person from his job," said Meaghan Shepard, trial attorney for EEOC's Dallas District Office. "The issue is always only whether the employee is qualified to perform the job, with or without a reasonable accommodation. Through this litigation, we hope that this employer will come to a better understanding of its obligations."
EEOC sues San Diego clinic for ADA violation
Business Management Daily
A surgical scrub technician has alleged Sharp Healthcare withdrew a job offer because it regarded her as disabled when she was not.
The technician was offered a job at the Sharp Memorial Outpatient Pavilion in San Diego, but the offer was allegedly rescinded when the hospital learned she had an ankle ailment.
The tech claims the ankle condition would not have affected her ability to perform the job. In fact, she currently works at another health care facility performing the same job.
She filed an EEOC complaint alleging Sharp violated the ADA when it withdrew her job offer because it perceived her to be disabled. The EEOC’s lawsuit seeks back pay, compensatory damages and injunctive relief to prevent future disability discrimination.
Note: Employers that withdraw a job offer because of a physical or mental impairment must show that the impairment would have prevented the applicant from performing the job’s essential functions.
Bill would make it harder for shameless lawyers to sue over disabilities
City Pages
The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce is going for a bill next year that would make it harder for people with disabilities to claim damages from businesses that don’t have the proper accommodations.
At first glance, it sounds rather mean-spirited. However, the bill proposal is a response to the newest shameless lawyer fad to target mom-and-pop shops, capitalizing on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Poe introduces legislation to curb abusive ADA lawsuits
Your Houston News
Congressman Ted Poe (TX-02) along with Congressmen David Jolly and Doug Collins recently introduced H.R. 3765, The ADA Education and Reform Act of 2015.
This legislation will curb frivolous lawsuits filed by cash-hungry attorneys and plaintiffs that abuse the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).
“The ADA is a vital law that is meant to make American businesses more accessible to the disabled. But the integrity of this important law is being threatened. The vast majority of small businesses in America strive to serve their customers to the best of their ability – relying on the ADA as another tool to help ensure that costumers with disabilities can enjoy the services that they provide,” said Poe. “Most of these business owners believe that they are in compliance with the ADA and have even passed local and state inspections.
“However, despite their best attempts, certain attorneys and their pool of serial plaintiffs troll for minor, easily correctable ADA infractions so they can file a lawsuit and make some cash. There is a now whole industry made up of people who prey on small business owners and file unnecessary abusive lawsuits that abuse both the ADA and the business owners.
“This bill will change that by requiring that the business owners have time to fix what is allegedly broken. If they fail to correct the infractions the plaintiff retains all of their rights to pursue legal action. This legislation restores the purpose of the ADA: to provide access and accommodation to disabled Americans, not to fatten the wallets of attorneys”
Disabilities: 6th Circuit issues case law on discrimination claims
HR.BLR.com
The 6th Circuit—which covers Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee—recently rejected a former employee's disability discrimination case because the supervisor who made the decision to terminate him didn't know the details of his physical work restrictions or why they were imposed.
That led the 6th Circuit to conclude that the decision maker didn't have "knowledge" of the terminated employee's disability, which foreclosed any claim of disability discrimination.
Judge orders trial in lawsuit over ADA-access at Children's Pool
La Jolla Light
After years of accessing La Jolla’s Children’s Pool beach by sliding down a steep ramp — or being carried by friends or helpers — paraplegic swimmer Jack Robertson sued the City of San Diego in June 2013 with the hopes of getting an ADA-compliant access ramp installed there.
Now, two years later, a federal judge ruled on Sept. 30 that a civil trial should proceed to address Robertson’s claims that the city is illegally inhibiting access to Children’s Pool for disabled people by not providing such a ramp.
Lexology
Going “green” doesn’t relate only to using renewable resources rather than fossil fuels to curb climate change. The phrase also extends to the growing acceptance of both medical and recreational marijuana in the United States that is becoming more commonplace. Is your workplace ready for legalized recreational and medical marijuana?
Pa. sued over mentally ill defendants in jails
Indiana Gazette
Pennsylvania is violating the rights of mentally ill defendants, allowing them to languish in jail often for hundreds of days for petty crimes, before determining whether they can be rehabilitated enough to stand trial or committing them to a treatment setting, according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday.