Consider: Employee/volunteer/Intern… with a disability is sexually harassing his or her coworkers. The disability is such that the employee/volunteer is unlikely to stop. The hiring authority terminates the employee/volunteer and the employee/volunteer sues the hiring authority for disability discrimination. This sounds very much like what could’ve been the case with the former Mayor of San
otherwise qualified
Class-action and persons with disabilities R.I.P.?
Here’s a fact. No two disabilities even the same ones are the same. Accordingly, it makes perfect sense that the ADA requires an individual analysis throughout. Further, under both title I and title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act, in addition to having a disability, the person must be qualified. That is, capable of…
McDonnell-Douglass and the ADA; An Imperfect fit
In employment discrimination cases, there are two kinds of cases (those involving direct evidence and those involving indirect evidence). Direct evidence cases are the proverbial smoking gun. That is, the plaintiff has explicit evidence that discrimination occurred. However, in most situations, it is difficult if not impossible to find direct evidence, rather things taken together…
Title II, employment, and essential eligibility requirements
Before we get started on the blog entry, I want to thank everyone for their readership. This week, we should surpass the 1000 visitor mark. Also, we have now surpassed the 10,000 view mark. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!
This blog entry explores whether title II of the ADA applies to employment issues, and how do you go about…
Enshrinement of unfair advantage as a legal standard: OCR, 504, and Sports
For years (every edition of my book starting with the very first edition published in 2000 has had a chapter on the ADA and sports), I’ve written about how the ADA applies to sports. The United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights has just issued a guidance dealing with their section 504 regulations…
Some thoughts on retaliation and the ADA
42 U.S.C. § 12203(a) prohibits retaliation against an individual opposing any act or practice that violate the ADA or because the individual made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner an investigation, proceeding or hearing. Over the last few weeks, I have come across a few cases in the retaliation area that deserve…
Segregation of HIV-positive inmates will not fly
Hope everyone had a great holiday season. Wishing everybody a healthy, happy, and successful new year! In case you want to take a break from bowl games over the next couple of days, here is something you might read:-)
Alabama and South Carolina are the only States segregating inmates that are HIV-positive. In the Alabama…
“Regarded as” and title II and are there different rules for “direct threat” depending upon the context
Recently, I read a case out of the Western District of Pennsylvania which I found absolutely fascinating. In this particular case, the court dealt with three issues. First, does the plaintiff have a disability at all? Second, does “regarded as” even apply outside of the title I context? Finally, was the plaintiff a direct threat…
How might you know when more leave is a reasonable accommodation once FMLA leave has been used up?
There are several laws out there that intersect with the Americans with Disabilities Act. One of them is the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). That law intersects with the Americans with Disabilities Act in a variety of ways. I am not going to explore all of those ways in this entry. What I do…
Reassignment revisited
In a prior blog entry, I discussed how the issue of reassignment when an otherwise qualified person with a disability can no longer do the job would eventually be headed to the Supreme Court. However, that entry did not address the question as to how you go about proving up, i.e. making a prima…