Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

DOJ Issues Important Pronouncement on Application of the ADA to School Voucher Programs

Excerpt from: Disability Law (click for full article)

 

A few weeks ago (but just publicized last week), the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter to Wisconsin's state Superintendent of Public Instruction regarding the Division's ADA investigation of the Milwaukee school voucher program.  The letter contains a number of important pronouncements regarding the responsibilities of states that operate voucher programs to prevent discrimination by the schools -- public and private -- that receive vouchers under those programs.

The first important pronouncement is that, even when parents use vouchers to attend private schools, the state retains an obligation to prevent discrimination against students with disabilities by the schools participating in the voucher program:

DPI's obligation to eliminate discrimination against students with disabilities in its administration of the school choice program is not obviated by the fact that the schools participating in the program are private secular and religious schools.  Indeed, courts recognize that the agency administering a public program has the authority and obligation under Title II to take appropriate steps in its enforcement of program requirements to prohibit discrimination against individuals with disabilities, regardless of whether services are delivered directly by a public entity or provided through a third party.  [Many case cites omitted.]  In short, the State cannot, by delegating the education function to private voucher schools, place MPCP students beyond the reach of the federal laws that require Wisconsin to eliminate disability discrimination in its administration of public programs.

Justice Department Settles Lawsuit Against Golden Corral Restaurant for Violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act

Excerpt from: DOJ (click for full article)

 

The Department of Justice announced today the settlement of its lawsuit against the Golden Corral restaurant in Westland, Mich., which alleged that the owners and operators of the Golden Corral violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by denying service to a mother and her minor children based on the appearance of the children’s skin due to a genetic skin disorder.

The Justice Department’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit, alleged that the manager of the Golden Corral restaurant demanded that Danielle Duford and her four daughters leave the restaurant based on the appearance of the children’s skin caused by a genetic skin disorder, epidermolysis bullosa, which causes blisters to form on the skin in response to minor injuries and temperature changes.   Despite Duford informing the restaurant manager of her children’s disability and repeatedly emphasizing that they did not have a contagious disease, the manager required the family to immediately leave the restaurant, claiming that he had received complaints from other customers.   Title III of the ADA prohibits public accommodations, such as restaurants, from discriminating against people on the basis of disability, or their association with an individual with a disability, in the full and equal enjoyment of the goods or services offered. 

People with disabilities face gap in higher education employment

Excerpt from: Minnesota Daily (click for full article)

 

Sandra Buchholz has had difficulty landing a job because she’s deaf.

Some employers wouldn’t hire her because her deafness would make it hard to communicate, said Buchholz, who works as an American Sign Language instructor at the University of Minnesota.

“I would say that there are a lot of deaf people out there who have a tough time getting a job because of their disability,” she said through an interpreter.

Nationwide, there’s a large gap in the employment of people with mental or physical disabilities — the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is almost double the rate for those without, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Turkey Plant Ordered To Pay Mentally Disabled Workers $240M After Years Of Awful Conditions

Excerpt from: Consumerist (click for full article)

 

An Iowa jury recently handed down what could be the largest verdict in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s history, including a judge’s order that a turkey plant must pay 32 mentally disabled men $240 million. The jury found that Henry’s Turkey Service had violated the Americans with Disabilities Act in paying the workers $0.41 an hour while reportedly making them live in awful conditions and subjecting them to physical abuse and neglect.

After four years of working on the case, the EEOC attorney and the families of the men laid out five days of testimony about the working and living conditions the workers endured, reports the Quad City Times. The judge awarded each of the 32 workers $7.5 million for emotional and punitive damages.

“For the first time since 2009, the public, as represented by the jury, not only got to hear the whole story about these men, but fully understood the depth of the human experience they suffered,” said EEOC attorney Robert Canino.

HUD ISSUES NOTICE ON ASSISTANCE ANIMALS AND REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

Excerpt from: HUD.gov (click for full article)

 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today issued a Notice reaffirming that housing providers must provide reasonable accommodations to persons with disabilities who require assistance animals.  The “Notice on Service Animals and Assistance Animals for People with Disabilities in Housing and HUD-Funded Programs” discusses how the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) intersect regarding the use of service or assistance animals by persons with disabilities.

Feds Affirm Right To Service Animals

Excerpt from: Disability Scoop (click for full article)

 

Federal officials are putting housing providers on notice that they must accommodate people with disabilities who rely on service animals.

In a notice posted Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development clarified the responsibilities of landlords under the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Under the law, housing providers must provide reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities who rely on assistance animals. Further, pet restrictions cannot be used to limit or deny housing to individuals relying on such animals, the notice said.

The Fair Housing Act — which governs nearly all types of housing — requires that trained service dogs as well as other assistance animals that perform tasks, provide emotional support or otherwise alleviate the impact of a person’s disability be accommodated.

Nice Piece on Olmstead, Budget Cuts, and Nursing Homes

Excerpt from: Disability Law (click for full article)

 

By contrast, here's a nice piece on Olmstead issues, which uses the M.R. case as a lens to examine the various questions.

Jacksonville settles with feds on ADA violations

Excerpt from: News4Jax.com (click for full article)

 

The U.S. Justice Department has agreed to settle with the city of Jacksonville over dozens violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act at city buildings and property.

The agreement was reached under Project Civic Access, the Justice Department’s initiative to ensure that cities, towns and counties throughout the country comply with the ADA.

“Together, we are taking significant steps to ensure accessibility by focusing on accountability and responsibility,” said Mayor Alvin Brown. “I’m encouraged by the teamwork and support that we’ve enjoyed with the Justice Department and many other stakeholders so that our public buildings can be used and enjoyed by all in our community.”

The Hartford Expands Absence Management Suite To Help Employers Reduce Costs, Maximize Productivity

Excerpt from: Wall Street Journal (click for full article)

 

To help employers better manage employee absence, The Hartford has expanded its absence management suite of products and services, including a new web reporting tool, a series of webinars, a digital educational resource, and a service that helps employers track and manage employee requests for reasonable accommodations as afforded under the Americans With Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA).

"With the total cost of absence consuming about 35 percent of payroll(1) employers are looking for effective ways to manage absenteeism," said Mike Concannon, executive vice president of The Hartford's Group Benefits. "Our leadership position in group benefits(2) and workers compensation(3) combined with our 12 years of leave management experience provides our clients with powerful integrated strategies into managing absence and maximizing employee productivity."

The Hartford's new web reporting tool called Employer View for Absence Management includes:

   -- Dashboards that summarize company-wide absences at a glance; 
 
   -- Access to key details on specific absence events; and 
 
   -- Integrated absence reports with a variety of filtering options. 

The expanded absence management suite also features a service that helps facilitate the collection of records associated with an employee's request for an ADAAA disability accommodation. This service helps ease the burden on employers with employee requests for reasonable accommodations under the ADAAA.

Spring Rolls restaurant ignored customer accessibility policy in barring service dog, disability rights lawyer says

Excerpt from: thestar.com (click for full article)

 

The Toronto restaurant that told a hearing impaired man to leave his service dog outside broke more than the Ontario Human Rights Act.

It appears that Spring Rolls contravened a 2008 provision of the Accessibility for Ontarians With Disabilities Act which requires businesses to implement customer accessibility policies, including staff training and customer complaints procedures to ensure people don’t face this kind of discrimination, said disability rights lawyer David Lepofsky.

Businesses with more than 20 employees were required to report their policies to the government by Dec. 31, 2012.

“More than five years after the Ontario government enacted the Customer Service Accessibility Standard under the disabilities act, why are we hearing about alleged incidents like this?” said Lepofsky, chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance, a community coalition working to ensure the act is enforced.