Before getting started on the blog of the week, a housekeeping matter. I usually get my blogs up on Monday and sometimes Tuesday or even Wednesday. However, my daughter just finished her third year of college and is home for a short time before starting her summer gig. So, my schedule for the next couple
disability discrimination
Interactive Process is a Continuing Obligation and Just What is an Adverse Action
(Decision immediately above in adobe format for this week’s blog entry)
Gavina v. Amazon.com-Word version
(word version of case immediately above)
I hope everyone is having a great holiday season. The way it looks for me is I believe I’m going to get two blog entries up this week and then…
Think Twice Before Terminating a Student for Disability Related Conduct
Today’s blog entry deals with the question of what happens if you are a college or university and a student acts out. The acting out is related to a disability or to medication the person is taking for that disability. Instead of engaging the student or discussing whether reasonable accommodations/modifications might solve the problem, the…
Hostile Environment Claims are Viable Under Both the Rehabilitation Act as well as the ADA
Before getting started on the blog entry of the day, I will be out of town not this week, but the week after this week. So, I am not sure if I will get a blog entry up for the next week. I would have to do it next Sunday, but I will also be…
Ninth Circuit Says Disability Related Conduct Necessitates Separate Grounds for Termination
Yesterday was 9/11 and certainly thinking of everyone. Also, I appreciate everyone bearing with me on my two week hiatus while my wife and I were abroad. We came back Friday and back to the grind now.
Today’s case is an unpublished decision. Lee v. L3Harris Technologies, Inc., from the Ninth Circuit decided August…
Federal laws/regulations allowing for discrimination can trump the ADA (even if adopted at the state level)
The United States Supreme Court and the regulations implementing title I of the ADA allow for a complete defense to discrimination against persons with disabilities when the discrimination is necessary in order to comply with other federal law or regulations. Albertsons v. Kirkingburg 527 U.S. 555, 570, 570 n.16; see also id. at 578 (J.…
Air Carrier Access Act revisited: just what is preempted?
Previously, I have written two different blog entries dealing with the Air Carrier Access Act. In the first, I talked about whether a private cause of action existed. In the second, I talked about whether the Air Carrier Access Act regulations being so pervasive preempted state laws. This entry concerns a slightly different issue.…
Are public colleges and public universities immune from suit as a result of sovereign immunity in ADA matters
In a previous blog entry, the principle of sovereign immunity and how they might apply to a County was discussed. What wasn’t discussed, was whether sovereign immunity would apply to a public university or public college. A case that addresses this is Doe v. Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska, 280…
Sovereign immunity principles outside of sovereign immunity claims and the importance of self-evaluation and transition plans
In a previous blog entry, I talked about the principle of sovereign immunity as it applies to persons with disabilities. As mentioned in that blog entry, a state, including an arm of the state, is not going to be forced to waive its sovereign immunity with respect to disability discrimination in employment matters.…
The ADA doesn’t reach everywhere
The ADA is an extremely complex and comprehensive law. The temptation is to think that the ADA applies whenever a person with disability has their rights arguably infringed. However, that just isn’t the case. The situation may be governed by other laws. For example, if a person has an individual education plan, the law that…