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U.S. Justice Department sues LA Fitness for disability discrimination

Posted on October 16, 2024

The Department of Justice sued LA Fitness under the Americans with Disabilities Act for preventing members with disabilities from accessing their pools and fitness equipment. The problems included having broken pool lifts and elevators and charging extra to people with disabilities. If you or someone you know had trouble accessing an LA Fitness gym because...

CDC website has accessible resources on emergency preparedness for people with disabilities

Posted on October 16, 2024

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) webpage on Emergency Preparedness and Disability Inclusion now includes resources to promote the importance of emergency preparedness for people with disabilities. It includes videos, audio recordings, easy-read summaries, and infographics. For more information, see the CDC webpage on Emergency Preparedness and Disability Inclusion.

Accommodating public safety workers

Posted on October 16, 2024

A recent article from ODEP’s Job Accommodation Network (JAN) gives examples of helpful workplace accommodations for public safety workers. These workers often have difficult, sometimes dangerous jobs. Having a disability can sometimes make this hard work even more difficult to do. For these frontline workers with disabilities, job accommodations can help them carry out their...

EEOC sues Victra for discrimination due to pregnancy and perceived disability

Posted on October 16, 2024

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged that Victra, the business name of ABC Phones of North Carolina and a nationwide retailer of Verizon mobile devices, violated federal law when it denied a worker’s request to leave new hire training early for an important medical appointment related to her pregnancy and withdrew her job offer....

Department of Education resource about federal laws prohibiting discrimination in educational settings

Posted on October 3, 2024

The U.S. Department of Education resource, Protecting Students, provides information about the federal laws prohibiting discrimination in educational settings that receive funding from the Department. It talks about the types of discrimination students may face in an educational setting and how you can work to prevent or lessen the effects of this discrimination.

Lawsuit settlement creates protections for unhoused community

Posted on October 2, 2024

In a “first-of-its-kind” settlement, the city of San Bernardino has agreed to a new policy that will prevent the destruction of unhoused individuals' property and make sure there are reasonable accommodations for unhoused individuals with disabilities. Under the settlement, unhoused people with disabilities will receive “elevated levels of accommodation.” The lawsuit highlights how San Bernardino...

Arizona Walmart to pay $100,000 in EEOC disability lawsuit

Posted on October 2, 2024

Walmart, Inc. will pay $100,000 and provide other relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Walmart fired cashier Stevey Wiman from its Bullhead City, Arizona, location because she had seizures causing her to miss work. Walmart’s attendance policy allows absences to be excused for disability accommodations,...

New Department of Labor tool to provide ideas for workplace accommodations

Posted on October 1, 2024

The U.S. Department of Labor has a new tool that provides access to more than 700 accommodation ideas for workers with disabilities and their employers. The “Situations and Solutions Finder” offers examples of workplace accommodations shared by users of the Job Accommodation Network, a service of the department’s Office of Disability Employment Policy. The database gets...

Practices to keep persons with disabilities at federal agencies

Posted on October 1, 2024

With the 51st anniversary of Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released a new report, “Retaining Persons with Disabilities in the Federal Workforce". Based on the report’s findings and current promising practices, the EEOC recommends that agencies make sure that they have: Required reasonable accommodations (RA)...

Making AI hiring tools inclusive and accessible

Posted on October 1, 2024

The Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT) has a new resource, AI & Inclusive Hiring Framework. The framework helps employers use artificial intelligence (AI) tools more inclusively and reduces the risk of unintended forms of discrimination when hiring workers with disabilities. It has good information for businesses that use or plan to use hiring...

Available now: Free at-home COVID-19 tests, including a more accessible option

Posted on September 30, 2024

Every U.S. household can now order more free at-home COVID-19 tests through a partnership between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response and the United States Postal Service. These tests will detect the current COVID-19 variants and can be used through the end of 2024. Each order will...

Resource for poll workers and voters with disabilities

Posted on September 30, 2024

The Great Plains ADA Center has developed a series of web pages to help poll workers train their volunteers and staff to understand the rights and possible needs of voters with disabilities. It provides an overview of training topics recommended for polling place staff and volunteers, including: Voting rights Voter assistance Disability awareness Disability awareness...

New video! What NDEAM is all about

Posted on September 30, 2024

National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) is almost here! It’s not too late to find out about NDEAM which celebrates the important contributions of workers with disabilities across the country and the importance of workplace inclusion year-round. To figure out how you can take part, watch the Office of Disability Employment Policy's NDEAM video and...

New resource on substance use disorder in the workplace

Posted on September 19, 2024

The Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion has a new resource, Substance Use Disorder (SUD) in the Workplace. Understanding substance use in the workplace helps both employers and workers. This new resource contains: A toolkit to help employers develop recovery-ready workplace policies, A guide for employers on supporting workers with SUD, and A...

Supreme Court to decide if retirees can claim disability discrimination in benefits

Posted on September 19, 2024

The Supreme Court of the United States has agreed to hear a case that will decide whether retirees can sue for disability discrimination because of changes to retiree benefit plans. A former firefighter sued the city of Sanford, Florida, claiming it discriminated against her when it shortened the length of health benefits for disabled retirees....

Accommodating educators with disabilities

Posted on September 10, 2024

As the school year begins, educators with disabilities may realize they need job accommodations. Both educators and employers can check out the recent newsletter from the Office of Disability Employment Policy’s Job Accommodation Network (JAN) for resources and guidance on important accommodation-related topics like disclosure, requests, and different types of workplace accommodations.

Remote participation as a reasonable accommodation for public meetings in California

Posted on September 3, 2024

California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued an Attorney General Opinion stating that remote participation in public meetings can be a reasonable accommodation under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The July 24 opinion will allow many individuals with disabilities to join and rejoin local boards and commissions. During the pandemic, public meetings took...

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on adopting accessibility standards for pedestrian facilities in the public right-of-way

Posted on September 3, 2024

On August 22, 2024, the United States Department of Transportation published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on the Adoption of Accessibility Standards for Pedestrian Facilities in the Public Right-of-Way (PROWAG). The Department wants to update its rules that apply the transportation provisions under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This proposed rule would adopt...

U.S. Access Board seeks public comment on proposed rule for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations

Posted on September 3, 2024

On September 3, the U.S. Access Board published a notice of proposed rulemaking to update the accessibility guidelines for buildings and facilities covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 (ABA) that talk about the accessibility of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. This proposed rule provides specifications...

ABM agrees to pay $52,000 to settle EEOC disability charge

Posted on August 27, 2024

ABM Industry Groups has agreed to pay $52,000 to a worker who is deaf and take other actions following an investigation by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The worker received a job offer from ABM to work as a warehouse cleaner in a client facility. After the worker asked for an accommodation, ABM...

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