Overlawyered » disabled rights

EEOC: no post-offer inquiries about family medical history

Walter Olson — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:11:44 +0000

Asking existing employees about their family medical history might offer safety benefits in the workplace, both by indicating vulnerabilities that might be countered by protective measures, and by helping to distinguish ailments with a strong congenital influence from those that might signal occupational disease. However, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says that such questioning is “genetic discrimination” and unlawful under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), which became law in 2009. Fabricut, a decorative fabrics firm, will pay $50,000 to settle charges that it improperly asked about family medical history and also that it improperly engaged in disability discrimination by refusing to employ as a clerk a woman it regarded as having carpal tunnel syndrome. [EEOC press release]

Tags: disabled rights, medical, workplace

EEOC: no post-offer inquiries about family medical history is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Portland sued for workplace fragrance use”

Walter Olson — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:59:43 +0000

Two years ago the city of Portland, Ore. became the first to adopt a voluntary policy against fragrance use in city offices. (A similar Detroit measure had been taken in response to a lawsuit.) Now Julee Reynolds, a city worker who says she suffers from multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), has sued Portland for allegedly not doing enough to enforce the policy. [KOIN; earlier here, here, etc.]

Tags: cosmetics, disabled rights, Oregon, workplace

“Portland sued for workplace fragrance use” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Want to cut the line at the Disney park? Call my disabled friend

Walter Olson — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:22:37 +0000

It got started with the handicapped parking placards that in California and elsewhere made their way into the possession of not-so-disabled drivers. Then there were the reports of abuse of airport wheelchair attendant service, which can get you past security fast and which (to avoid litigation, embarrassment, or both) airlines often dispense on request without inquiring into need. Now comes the rentable disabled person to help your kids cut lines at Disney World. Disney allows parties of up to seven to enter attractions separately when one of the party is disabled. According to the New York Post, some affluent Manhattan mothers are happy to pay for the convenience: “The ‘black-market Disney guides’ run $130 an hour, or $1,040 for an eight-hour day.” [Tara Palmeri, "Rich Manhattan moms hire handicapped tour guides so kids can cut lines at Disney World," New York Post]

P.S. Too good to check? Commenter Marco and Christopher Robbins at Gothamist both have their doubts on whether the hazily sourced accounts might be embellished or worse.

P.P.S. And quite a lot more skepticism about the story from Lesley at XOJane.

Tags: disabled rights, Disney

Want to cut the line at the Disney park? Call my disabled friend is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Disabled rights roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 06 May 2013 04:05:28 +0000

U.S. Department of Justice may soon issue regulations mandating disabled accessibility for websites, a truly awful idea [WSJ, N.C. Journal of Law and Technology, Alexander Cohen, Atlas; one advocate's view; our long-running coverage, and my two cents years back]
Coming soon: 7% disabled-worker quota for federal contractors? [David Harsanyi, earlier here, here, etc.]
“Disability Act Charges and Awards Skyrocket” [Corp Counsel]
NYC: “Judge Raps Disability-Lawsuit Mill After ‘Client’ Disappears” [Daniel Fisher/Forbes, ABA Journal, John Andren/WLF, earlier on attorney Bradley Weitz]
W.D. Va.: farmers’ markets covered by ADA as “places of public accommodations” [Bagenstos]
Result under UK’s new version of ADA: teacher reinstated after arguing that mental disability caused him to keep student out drunk till 3 a.m. [Fox Rothschild]
Hey, let’s start constitutionalizing disabled rights! What could go wrong? [Michael Waterstone via Bagenstos]

Tags: ADA filing mills, constitutional law, disabled rights, racial quotas, web accessibility

Disabled rights roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Oregon police officer fired after drunken driving crash sues city, cites disabilities law”

Walter Olson — Fri, 03 May 2013 11:14:31 +0000

“A police officer fired for driving drunk in an unmarked police car while off-duty has filed a $6 million lawsuit against the city of Gresham, the police chief and others, alleging his rights were violated under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The lawsuit filed in Portland alleged the officer, Jason Servo, was suffering from alcoholism, a recognized disability under the act, and shouldn’t have been dismissed.” [AP] In my book The Excuse Factory I sketched some of the history of how alcoholism (at least when the subject declares a willingness to participate in rehab) came to be protected under the ADA.

Tags: alcohol, disabled rights, Oregon, police

“Oregon police officer fired after drunken driving crash sues city, cites disabilities law” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

NPR report on Social Security Disability makes waves

Walter Olson — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 10:47:39 +0000

The rolls have been expanding steadily for years, at tremendous cost, and the new NPR report, by Chana Joffe-Walt, is just plain devastating:

A person on welfare costs a state money. That same resident on disability doesn’t cost the state a cent, because the federal government covers the entire bill for people on disability. So states can save money by shifting people from welfare to disability. And the Public Consulting Group is glad to help.

PCG is a private company that states pay to comb their welfare rolls and move as many people as possible onto disability.

More: Jagadeesh Gokhale, Cato Regulation mag (PDF)(program “facing insolvency in just three years”); Ronald Bailey, Reason; Reihan Salam; Wynton Hall, Breitbart.com (furious counterattack from some on Left). And Heather Mac Donald, with notable prescience, saw the problem coming more than 17 years ago.

P.S.: A disability lawyer’s response.

Tags: disabled rights, federalism

NPR report on Social Security Disability makes waves is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

How not to cover the disabled-treaty fight

Walter Olson — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 20:18:15 +0000

New from me at Cato: in covering the U.N. disabled-rights treaty, the Boston Globe bids to earn back its old nickname of “The Glib.” Earlier on the treaty here, here, etc.

Tags: disabled rights, international human rights, international law, WO writings

How not to cover the disabled-treaty fight is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Court: ADA might cover employee’s chronic tardiness

Walter Olson — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 16:49:13 +0000

Or, Prof. Bagenstos headlines it at Disability Law, “Second Circuit Holds Timely Arrival at Work Not Necessarily an Essential Job Function.” Reversing a summary judgment in favor of the employer, the judges found that a schizophrenic case worker whose medication caused morning drowsiness was entitled to a trial on his claim that he could have accomplished the job by working extra to make up for time missed early in the day. [McMillian v. City of New York; Disability Law; Paul Mollica, Outten & Golden]

Tags: disabled rights, Second Circuit

Court: ADA might cover employee’s chronic tardiness is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

EEOC sues law firm over 75-lb. lifting requirement

Walter Olson — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 11:34:15 +0000

“The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice on behalf of a former office assistant who claims disability discrimination over a lifting requirement.” The job’s requirements, at the firm’s North Carolina headquarters, allegedly included moving heavy boxes of documents; according to the complaint, the law firm did not adequately consider accommodations such as letting her divide up the contents of the boxes and use push carts. Womble Carlyle declined to comment. [Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal]

Tags: disabled rights, EEOC

EEOC sues law firm over 75-lb. lifting requirement is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Labor and employment roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:18:43 +0000

“Lying to Doctors for Fitness for Duty Exam Can Still Get You Fired …But Only If You’re a Police Officer” [Connecticut cop smashed into two cars during epileptic seizure; Daniel Schwartz]
“Emotional labor”: is having to be cheerful to customers a form of capitalist slavery? [Tim Noah v. Andrew Sullivan]
CalPERS: “The pension fund that ate California” [Steve Malanga, City Journal]
Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC), other “worker centers” on the rise: “Will ‘alt-labor’ replace unions?” [Salon; critical anti-ROC site via Matt Patterson/CEI]
Without benefit of an act of Congress, EEOC is interpreting the law to prohibit transgender bias [Workplace Prof]
“The Nation: Government-Mandated Lunch Breaks are Somehow Libertarians’ Fault” [Shackford, Reason]
Historian challenges received account of Haymarket Affair [Ron Radosh]

Tags: Connecticut, disabled rights, EEOC, labor unions, police, transgender, wage and hour suits, workplace

Labor and employment roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system