I have written over the years several times about the Internet and whether it needs to be accessible to persons with disabilities. That discussion appears in my book. I also wrote an article on whether colleges and universities home pages need to be accessible to people with disabilities. Finally, I wrote an article on
Federal Cases
Are the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act the same?
By William Goren on
Case law dealing with the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act will often say say that the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act are governed by the same standards. Eg. Greer v. Richardson Independent School District, 2012 WL 833367, *12 fn 1 (fifth Cir. March 14, 2012). That said, are…
Is a Mixed Motive Jury Instruction Dead under the Americans with Disabilities Act? Rehabilitation Act?
By William Goren on
At the top of the legal resources section on this page, you will see a link to an article that I wrote regarding whether a mixed motive jury instruction is available under the Americans with Disabilities Act. A mixed motive jury instruction is an instruction that says that liability can exist if the plaintiff can…
Title II can’t be used to keep places that grow pot for medical purposes open
By William Goren on
Posted in Federal Cases, Title II
There has been a lot of discussion in the blogosphere, particularly among media, about the decision that just came down from the Ninth Circuit involving the efforts of the cities of Costa Mesa and Lake Forest in California to close down places that grew pot for medical purposes. The link to that decision is below…
Class is in session: Does the Defendant Have a Right to Know Who Is Enrolled
By William Goren on
Posted in Federal Cases, Title I
Before anyone can file a suit alleging a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, they first have to exhaust administrative remedies. That means they have to file a claim with the EEOC first. In some cases, a plaintiff files a claim with the state discrimination authority and that claim gets cross filed with the…
The ADA, The rehabilitation act, and the ministerial exception
By William Goren on
Posted in Federal Cases, Title I
This blog entry asks the question as to what is the status of the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act with respect to employees that work for religious institutions. Recently, the United States Supreme Court decided the case of Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, 132 S. Ct. 694 (2012). In that case,…
Did the Second Circuit really do that? Is the ADA retroactive
By William Goren on
Since the changes are so radical between the Americans with Disabilities Act and the ADAAA in many ways, a question comes up as to whether those changes are retroactive to pending ADA cases where the facts occurred entirely before January of 2009. There are two U.S. Supreme Court cases out there that strongly suggest that…
Reassignment of employees… Eventually headed to the US Supreme Court
By William Goren on
Posted in Federal Cases, Title I
Yesterday, in EEOC v. United Airlines, Incorporated, (docket number 11-1774, March 7, 2012 (Seventh Circuit)), the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit came down with a decision saying that United Air Lines was under no obligation to guarantee a reassignment to a vacant position for an employee that could no longer…
Are your sick leave Policies kosher?: A preventive law approach
By William Goren on
Posted in Federal Cases, Title I
In a recent case, EEOC v. Dillard’s Incorporated (United States District Court of the Southern District of California, Docket number 08cv1780-IEG (PCL)), the court held that an employer’s policy stating that an employee’s health related absence would not be excused unless the employee furnished a note from his or her doctor stating the condition being…
Ripped from the headlines: direct threat
By William Goren on
http://articles.philly.com/2012-02-08/news/31038138_1_hiv-positive-safety-of-other-students-admission
The above link involves the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania filing a suit in Philadelphia in December arguing that a boarding school discriminated against an HIV-positive teenager who applied to a school that served low-income families. The school is a residential boarding school. The teenager appeared to meet the initial minimum qualification for admission.…