Wilmington Trust Corporation to Pay $700,000 to Settle EEOC Disability Discrimination Suit
According to the EEOC's lawsuit, HCSB had a long-standing inflexible policy and practice of placing employees with impairments or disabilities on involuntary leave unless or until it received their medical provider's clearance to return to work with no restrictions. This practice resulted in denying qualified individuals with disabilities reasonable accommodations, as well as placing qualified individuals with disabilities on involuntary leave and/or discharging them because of disability. HCSB's conduct affected employees in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. One such employee was a Harrison, N.Y., teller who was prescribed a cam walker boot to treat Achilles tendonitis and bone spurs. Instead of simply allowing her to wear the walker boot, which would not have affected the essential functions of her job, HCSB placed her on involuntary leave and then fired her.
The ADA protects employees from disability discrimination, including the failure to provide reasonable workplace accommodations to qualified individuals who have a disability, have a record of disability, or are regarded as disabled. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (EEOC v. Wilmington Trust Corporation, Civil Action No. 17-cv-05077), after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.
On Dec. 19, 2018, U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth M. Karas entered a consent decree resolving the case. In addition to a $700,000 award for lost wages and other damages, the decree includes a two-year injunction against policies or practices at Wilmington Trust that would require employees to work with "no restrictions" or otherwise deny employees an interactive process to determine reasonable accommodations for their disabilities. In addition, Wilmington Trust will explicitly advise all former HCSB employees currently employed by Wilmington Trust, known as legacy employees, that HCSB's long-standing workplace accommodations and disability leave policy is no longer in effect. To further ensure that these legacy HCSB employees are aware of the change in policies, Wilmington Trust will also conduct trainings on its disability discrimination policy, the ADA, the ADA's requirement of reasonable accommodation, and other statutes enforced by the EEOC.
Feds Win Discovery Fight in ADA Case Over NJ Preschool's Toilet -Training Policy
Yahoo News
A federal judge has ordered the owners of a private preschool to comply with a broad request for discovery about its diaper-changing policies in a lawsuit claiming the school violated the civil rights of a young girl with Down syndrome by expelling her.
U.S. District Judge Noel Hillman of the District of New Jersey issued his order in U.S. v. Nobel Learning Communities on Dec. 19.
Defendant Nobel operates various preschools around the country, including the Chesterbrook Academy in Moorestown, which is the focus of the lawsuit.
The school is accused of violating the rights of the girl, identified by the court only as M.M., when it expelled her after she failed to become toilet trained shortly before she turned 4.
M.M., now 7, enrolled at Chesterbrook in January 2012, and her parents were alerted in December 2014 that she would be moved the next month to an "intermediates" class in which diaper-changing services were no longer provided, according to Hillman.
Chesterbrook told the parents about the deadline and worked to toilet train M.M., but expelled her in April 2015 when that training failed, the decision said.
The civil lawsuit, alleging discrimination in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act, was filed in 2017 on behalf of the parents by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey. The lawsuit alleges M.M. was expelled because of her disability, and not because she had failed to become toilet trained.
In the Dec. 19 decision, Hillman sided with the government in a dispute between the parties over a discovery request demanding details of the company's toilet-training policies nationwide, going back five years.
Nobel had contended that there was no memorialized nationwide policy and that the Moorestown school's policy was based solely on a local guideline. Nobel had argued that discovery should only be required for the previous two years and be confined to the Moorestown school's guidelines only.
Hillman's order affirmed an April 2018 ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel Schneider.
"Defendant has stated it has a general, national practice concerning toilet training," Hillman said. "This practice is not reduced to writing, but is only evidenced by actions concerning specific children.
"Discovery related to that practice is immediately relevant and Judge Schneider was correct in ordering it," Hillman said.
There was no evidence, Hillman said, that Schneider overstepped his authority when he granted the broad discovery request.
The lawsuit seeks a declaration that Nobel violated Title III of the ADA, an injunction barring the company from engaging in further discrimination, compensatory relief for the parents, and a civil penalty. The lawsuit was filed in January 2017.
ADA did not require letting traffic-phobic employee leave hours early
Affirming summary judgment against FMLA and ADA claims by an employee who was fired for excessive absenteeism after being denied a request to leave at 2:00 p.m. each day to mitigate panic attacks from driving in heavy traffic, the Fifth Circuit, in an unpublished opinion, found no evidence FMLA-covered absences were counted against her and found no other evidence of pretext, nor was there evidence that her prior FMLA leave was a negative factor in her termination. As for her failure-to-accommodate claim, her employer had demonstrated flexibility in offering her a modified schedule that would allow her to work a full day and leave at 4:00 p.m. In contrast, she never tried that accommodation, nor considered public transportation or other options to mitigate her anxiety. On this record, her claims failed as a matter of law. ( Trautman v Time Warner Cable Texas, LLC, 5thCir, December 12, 2018, per curiam, unpublished).
$3.5 Million Settlement Highlights Issue Of When Pregnancy May Be A Disability Under The Law
Forbes
The EEOC recently settled a nationwide investigation of a company that allegedly discriminated against pregnant employees or those with disabilities. The terms of the settlement include a $3.5 million payment as well as injunctive relief, such as updating the company’s reasonable accommodations policies and training its 10,000 employees.
Issues involving the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and pregnancy-related limitations are one of the six national priorities identified by the EEOC. This is a hot topic in litigation across the country and courts have reached different conclusions. In the case that settled for $3.5 million, the EEOC accused the company, Cato Corporation (a women’s fashion retailer), of denying reasonable accommodations to pregnant employees and firing or requiring them to take unpaid leaves of absences because they were pregnant or had a disability.
Pharmacy tech with cerebral palsy sues CVS, claims discrimination
News 12 Long Island
Dana Paladino, of Islip Terrace, says CVS discriminated against her because of her disability. Paladino, who has cerebral palsy, says she's worked at the CVS in Islip Terrace for 15 years and earned stellar reviews. But Paladino says she's being pushed out by a new manager who allegedly told her she's a "burden" to the company because of her physical limitations.
Paladino is now taking CVS to court with charges of discrimination against the pharmacy giant.
In the federal lawsuit, Paladino claims her physical limitations were never an issue until May 2017, when CVS hired a new manager who told her, "Either you're going to quit, or I'm going to get you fired."
Paladino says another manager told her months later that she was a "burden to the company and a burden to the store."
The lawsuit claims Paladino's managers cut her work hours, putting her at risk of losing her health benefits. Her attorney, Justin Marino, says the ordeal has been traumatic for her.
Disability advocate Douglas King says the actions of CVS' managers clearly violated the American With Disabilities Act.
CVS issued a statement saying: "We dispute the allegations in the complaint filed by our employee, Ms. Paladino. Since the beginning of her employment at CVS, we have provided her with accommodations and we continue to do so."
Paladino's lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, but she says there's more to her court battle than money -- she says she wants to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to anyone else in her position.
Teen Translates Concert Into American Sign Language for Her Deaf Dad
TeenVogue.com
When you go to a concert, you typically want a good view of the stage, but for this dad and daughter, the only thing that mattered was that they could see each other. The pair spent the evening looking at each other as the daughter translated songs into American Sign Language (ASL) for her deaf father.